THE CHORNICLES OF MAVERICK: CHANGED LIVES
by hypn0s
Summary: War, war never changes, is a fact everyone has accepted, what can change however, is the life of a man, and the path he walks in life, he who was meant to reach a town never made it, but this deviation was just the beginning.
1. Prologue

_**Hello readers, it is I, Hypn0s, returning to the fallout fanfiction realm, and fanfiction in general to be honest, and bring you a new story.**_

_**now those of my readers know that I haven't published somehting in a long time, and I apologize for that, I have been a little cooped with studies, work and of course got hooked to fallout 3, damn that game is addictive, as much as Mass Effect, both parts.**_

_**now some of you will notice this is not my first fallout fic, but those that visit my profile will see that 'The Change' a story I published on the Fallout section was erased, why? well i read and read it again, and truth to be told I found it lacking and with no hopes of salvation, this is my first story I erase and I openly admit it.**_

_**but the idea of using Mothership Zeta theme was a good one, it just needed a twist, something that no one had used, then it hit me, a complete AU story from the very beggining, there are tons of stories about the Lone Wanderer, be it boy or girl exiting the vault, some minor changes like Amata joining him, or more characters, but this one is new, I know it.**_

_**so sit back, read, enjoy and review the prologue of my new, very AU story of Fallout 3, let's face it, New Vegas didn't had the same impact as Fallout 3, but yet I will use a lot of elements of New Vegas like guns and some characters that should have been more badass that in the New Vegas game, the same with Fallout 3.**_

_**Now, without any delay, I give you all the prologue of 'The chornicles of Maverick' enjoy.**_

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><p><strong>THE CHORNICLES OF MAVERICK: CHANGED LIVES<strong>

**PROLOGUE:**

The light burned, it burned like nothing he never knew in his life, the light of the lamps could not be compared to the light of the sun, burning like an eternal nuclear bomb.

Shielding his sensitive eyes with his hands, his ears were able to catch up the sound of grinding steel being pushed together and closing, meaning one thing alone, Vault 101 cog door was closed to him.

His heart ached, and so his eyes, but not because of the light, but because he wanted to cry, he had killed two guards, crippled severely one with his bat, and had broken Alphonse arm after he had found Jonas body, but leaving Vault 101, his home, his only home, leaving Amata, leaving Mr. Brotch, hell leaving Butch, it hurt him a lot, not because they were all the people he knew, but because he was leaving his old life behind, and why? Because his father was unable to predict that the Overseer would react violently, and try to kill him instead of his own father.

He didn't resent his old man, he didn't, and the message he got from Jonas corpse meant that his father had been working on something, and had left because that project was big, bigger than him, bigger than Vault 101 security, bigger than his son.

Maverick sighed as his eyes finally adjusted to the sun light, and he had his first sight of post-apocalypse Washington D.C.

At least the first glimpse for a while.

Before he could even take his first real steps onto the unknown that was the Capital Wasteland, he was suddenly enveloped in a blue light, one that shone brighter that the sun that nearly burned his eyes, and then the unthinkable happened, he was being lifted off the ground, slowly at first, like if gravity had relinquished its mighty hold on him alone, slowly, but soon the gravity field that hold all things on the planet relinquished its hold on him, lifting him up, up, up, into the bright sky…

When he opened his eyes once again after that experience, he convinced himself that all had been a dream, that him killing two guards, shooting several radroaches, crippling one guard, breaking the arm of the Overseer, leaving the vault because his father left, Jonas death, all had been a dream…

Problem was that it wasn't.

And as the three green men approached him, strange looking batons on their hands that crackled with energy, and he was unable to feel the cold metal of a gun or his bat on his back, as they began to beat him senseless, and the pain shot to every inch of his body, he realized that all was real, everything was real.

And darkness claimed him.

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><p><em><strong>so there you have it people, prologue of my second fallout story, this one will come with chapter 1 of the story, so just wait.<strong>_


	2. 1: Smell the ashes

_**Hello again people, Hypn0s welcome you all to chapter 1 of my story, The Maverick Chornicles.**_

_**now to those who have read the prologue, this first part of the story of my Lone Wanderer, Maverick will take entirely in the last DLC storyline, aliens and all the she-bang, I told you all this was something never done, at least i haven't read something similar.**_

_**now I will not spoil thing to you all, but this story will contain elements of both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, mostly weapons and some characters on the last game, so those who have played both games will recognize some things I will add here, along with other parts of both Fallout, the first game and Fallout 2, mostly story and cameos.**_

_**Also I will put an extra spice to this story, we all wondered how a lone man or girl was able to basically destroy the worth of several armies, alone, without a gigantic robot to aid him, and that's just to those who played the game on normal, hard or very hard mode, many complained that making the Lone Wanderer super strong was easy, too easy and made the game so easy, in layman terms, it was like in New Vegas where you got Boone as a companion and then you gave him an anti-materiel rifle, with incendiary ammo, the game gets so easy.**_

_**In this story I will give my LW a reason to be super strong, if not more than the LW of the game.**_

_**so sit, read and enjoy, oh and review, reviews are the writters life-blood, without it we can't know what you, fellow readers and other authors think of the story.**_

_**so here I give you all chapter 1, I hope you all note how AU it gets from here.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1: SMELL THE ASHES<strong>

He opened his eyes, and immediately regretted it.

Pain, unbearable pain shot all over his body, his muscles ached and contracted in pain, trying in a vain attempt to soothe the pain away, he curled in a ball to soothe the pain away, but it was useless, the pain was too much for him, he opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out of his throat, only a soundless scream, a long soundless scream.

But that was fixed soon, his mouth began to generate saliva, saliva he was able to swallow, saliva that refreshed his dry throat, it took time, but his stunned throat began to emit sounds again, and soon his muscles stopped aching like hell.

Albeit they still hurt.

The unbearable pain soon was soothed by the adrenaline shot on his system by his own body, he recognized soon that he had adrenaline flooding his body; sometimes it was good to have been the son of a doctor, especially if you ended up being his assistant after the GOAT test.

Slowly standing up, and huffing along the way, Maverick was able to finally open his eyes, then blinked.

His first conscious sight of the world after being taken by a blue light was not once again the 200 year old carcass of the world, but rather four silver walls that were beyond advanced when it came to walls, so alien in design that he actually considered that he was back in the vault, that the guards had actually followed him and knocked him and put him on the brig, and all he had seen before had been a bad dream.

Sadly this wasn't the case, as what happened before came back to his mind, and another jolt of pain, this time located on his back reminded him that all was very real.

His ears caught a strange sound, like, someone talking, but not talking English or Spanish or something like that, it was an odd combination of high pitched clicks, screams and fusions of letters that were starting to annoy him.

When he turned around to glare at the source of the noise, he froze.

There he stared at something he believed was only of comic books.

Aliens, real live aliens.

They weren't exactly tall, hell Amata at the age of twelve was taller than them, the head was unnaturally big, like a pre-war light bulb, with green olive skin, a lot of wrinkles in its face, black eyes that were devoid of any sense of warm or feelings, slim mouths without lips or visible teeth, no visible ears for that matter as well, and their nose was just two cavities where the nose should be, slim arms and legs along with a very slim torso, but with a slight big belly, three long fingers and dressed in a white once piece jumpsuit with black boots was all of the alien physical features.

The alien held on its right hand what seemed to be a baton, unlike anything Maverick had ever seen before, sure he had used one of the batons the security force of Vault 101 uses to beat one of the guards to death, being more specific the one that was beating Amata and had killed Jonas.

But the one the alien had was different, with a silver polished design, the blunt end of the baton seemed like one of those bug zappers used in rural areas before the Great War to draw and electrocute mosquitoes or flies.

"AAAHHHH!" Maverick cried in pain when the baton impacted on his skin, sending electric discharges all over his body, making his muscles to seize up, oddly enough the feeling died fast, way too fast, and when the alien hit him again and again, he only felt a slight dull pain, and the slight blunt impact on his body, but not the electric discharge as before.

But he knew well that if he showed signs of getting used to the pain, the alien would hit him harder, and would not lower his guard, so he decided to fake the pain, this lasted for a minute until he saw the alien lower its guard, this was the opening he wanted, with speed he didn't knew he possessed he tackled the alien to the ground, hearing how the ribcage of the alien cracked upon impact, then with such savagism that clearly surprised him, he grabbed the right arm of the alien, the one with the baton, and ripped the arm cleanly of its socket, the alien screamed in pain as yellowish blood poured out of his socket, but Maverick didn't cared, tossing the arm away, he held the baton in hand, and then started to hit the alien in the face, hard.

The alien's massive head only lasted three blows before it caved in and spilled its brain on the ground, much to Maverick shock.

Seeing the dead alien, brutalized in five moves no less, Maverick began to scan around, just to see if he was not alone on this, after all this was not the first time he got onto a fight that had him outnumbered or outgunned.

Fortunately he wasn't on both cases, this time.

He saw that he was on some sort of torture room or something like that, if the blood on the walls, human blood was of any indication, that and the very sharp devices places around a chair that were surely not for the comfort of a person seating in it.

Tossing the alien baton, Maverick checked himself to see if something was missing, even if a finger, he didn't want to find out he was missing his thumbs or his ears were now on preservation jars or his kidney was being used to power up something on this crazy ship.

Fortunately he was complete, he wasn't missing any body parts, and his Pip-boy was still attached to his left hand, what he was missing however were his clothes.

"…This these bastards just stripped me naked and probed me?" he asked out loud, seeing no answer to his question, he simply settled on stepping on the torso of the dead alien and break any remaining ribs that might not have been broken before.

Hearing the crunch of bones was satisfying enough, and he knew that if there was one alien, there were more, and oh he was going to make them regret dragging him and experimenting with him, because he knows that these crazy bastards did experimented with him, he could feel it, his strength, his current one…it was not normal, even with adrenaline flooding his system.

Seeing an exit of the room, Maverick decided he had stood enough around, exiting the room, he was surprised to see that the corridors were pretty much clean, pristine, all metallic and futuristic, and he was also looking if there was some sort of camera around, a surveillance camera, there was none.

Seeing the road free, Maverick made a dash to the metallic door, once there he pressed the most obvious sign of an opening button at the side of the door and this one opened, and not sparing a glance behind, kept advancing.

And soon regret it when a cold chill hit him.

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><p>Sarah held her gun near her chest, of all the things that had to happen to her, this was surely the last thing she expected, kidnapped yes, by aliens not so much.<p>

Sarah Lyons, only Sentinel of the Brotherhood of Steel and leader of Lyons Pride groaned in annoyance as another one of the Super Mutants small cousins spotted her, raising its baton and charging at her, not the greatest idea ever, considering the size of their heads.

Raising her weapon, Sarah pulled the trigger and smirked as her newly acquired Laser RCW tore the alien apart, she had to hand it to the small freaks, this was a weapon Sarah had only heard in passing, a small, compact, nicer to the eyes, not as nice on the receiving end laser Gatling, resembling a Tommy Machinegun, the RCW is all the sense of the word, a laser machinegun, sixty laser beams of pure fun to use.

This particular RCW, Sarah noted, was different than others, while she had heard the gun had wooden sections, like a Tommy Gun, this one instead had metal parts replacing those wooden parts, in a silver polish, also the beams were blue, instead of red, meaning that the beams hit harder than the usual RCW.

The 'Tommy Gun' as it was written on the right side of the barrel with clack, lived to the name of its former cousin, the spitting lead Tommy Machinegun, and while it still used Electron Charge packs, this one used them better, instead of 60 shots per EC pack, her gun could shot 80 per EC pack.

But while she had got a nice gun that no other BOS member had, she had lost her armor, her beautiful, long battle hardened armor, the damn aliens had stripped her, leaving her only in her panties and her shirt, gladly she had found shortly after her escape a dead enclave officer, female of course, and she had donned her clothes, more for modesty that for anything else, she could be fighting naked for all she cared, but she knew she would find more people who had been kidnapped, and truth to be told, she needed a place where to store all her new shiny alien loot.

She knew they needed it more than ever.

She was still unable to believe the Enclave still lived, well they did, and attacked in such a way that no one was prepared, she knew most towns fell while defending themselves against the Enclave, small towns anyway, Andale, Big Town, Grayditch, Arefu, several Raider camps, several scavenger camps, the spot between the Jefferson Memorial and Rivet City was a literal warzone, most BOS soldiers that were in DC had to be relocated around Rivet City, GNR station had only a handful of soldiers around, and most of the area was mined, to thin the freaks if they decided to attack, she doubted a Behemoth could safely trek the minefield around GNR perimeter without losing one leg.

She still remembers the day the Enclave attacked, half a year ago, six months to be exact, no one knew why in fact, but they attacked, they took over the Jefferson Memorial, which her father told her was once a place to create a massive water purifier to cleanse the waters of the Tidal Basin and in time, the waters of the Potomac itself.

The battle for the useless water purifier was little compared for the battle of their lives, most caravans that sustained several towns had to stop wandering because the Enclave soldiers would attack anyone on sight, most towns had to depend on hunting their food of the local fauna, or what was left anyway, radscorpion and giant ant meat was the only way to feed oneself, Megaton had it somewhat well in that regard, they were located near a giant ant nest, so they had plenty of meat to take off, and considering the entire town massacred the raiders inside the school, which is built under the giant ant nest, they had stripped the school of everything remotely usable, which was everything, including batteries, generators, weapons and ammo of the dead raiders, their armors used to cover some holes around the walls, etc.

Megaton had it well, all things considering that Rivet City was basically a massive target for the Enclave Vertibirs, on a high note however, the citizens of Rivet City had a new hobby, besides dodging bullets that is, shooting down Vertibirds down from the sky with Rocket Launchers.

As she made her way out of the cell block, a hissing sound made her turn around, eyes widening, she ducked and rolled out of the way when what seemed the version of an alien ghoul came flying towards her, then slamming to a wall, hard, she heard several bones breaking upon impact, but that seemed to not deter the alien like ghoul, upon further inspection, she found, much to her horror that it was not like a ghoul, it was a freaking human/alien hybrid.

While their hands and skin was of the alien shade and form, and their feet had only four toes, the rest was basically human, with a rather large belly, a toned torso, long arms and legs, a alien like head with human features, and pitch black sclera with white pupils, this abomination was something Sarah would remember for a long time, and even more in the way it died.

She rose her gun to finish the abomination when this one stood up and charged, only then she realized that it wasn't charging at her, but rather back at the open door, when she looked she saw, much to her shock, a man in his underwear, just like she was before, with long blasted back hair in black and brown eyes with Latin features, emerging for what seemed a very harsh cold room.

The abomination swung an arm and tried to hit the man, but much to her shock, the man moved away of the trajectory of the lunge with surprising dexterity and grabbing the arm with both of his hands, flipped the abomination to the ground, slamming it hard to the ground, there he slammed his right feet on the neck of the abomination, hearing the crack of the windpipe when his feet made contact, then, much to her surprise, while still holding the arm, ripped it of its socket, cleanly, making the abomination cry in pain, or as much pain it could scream considering he had broke its windpipe, then once again he slammed his feet on the neck of the beast, this time Sarah knew he broke the whole neck easily by stomping on it, and got clearly surprised when she saw that his stomp had left a clear imprint on the metal ground with such an ease.

When the man turned around, Sarah blinked in surprise, he was just a boy, barely nineteen, twenty years old, his shirt was smeared with the blood of those abominations, a mixture of human red blood with some alien yellow-ish like blood.

The door closing was what made Sarah snap her attention once again, realizing that the door he had emerged had just closed, and now he was staring at her.

"…uh…hi?" he offered, making her raise an eyebrow, slowly standing up, gun aimed at him, just for precaution, Sarah noted that he had also something she hadn't noticed before, a Pip-Boy.

"…Where did you got that Pip-boy?" she asked, weapon aimed at him, the boy, to her believe, was not concerned by her gun, hell he didn't seemed to even mind that he had ripped the arm of a monster in all the sense of the word, he just rose an eyebrow at her.

"My Pip-boy? I got it when I reached 10 years, like all kids on…my vault" he said the last part on a whisper, Sarah didn't pay attention to that, just the fact he indeed came out of a vault, question was, which one.

"Which vault, I know for a fact that Vault 87 is a very fancy coffin, Vault 92 likewise, vault 106 is a junkie's heaven and 108 is the only place I know so far that we can actually clone people, or organs for that matter, that only leave Vault 112 and 101, and a scout of my unit told me before I was captured by the aliens that 112 is some sort of freaky sleeping project, that just leaves…" she said as she rose her gun at him, making him narrow his eyes at her, "101…so answer…are you from Vault 101?"

His nod was all she needed to pull the trigger, but much to her shock, the burst she fired to him hit nothing but air, when she turned to her right, she just could only stare in mute shock as he reached for her gun, disarmed her of it, and slammed his palm on her stomach, sending her flying away towards a wall, unlike the abomination, she was thankful she didn't broke several bones, but the impact took the air out of her.

As she slowly stood up, her first sight was the boy tossing the gun away, like if it was nothing, then assuming a boxing stance, beckoned her to come at him.

Sarah snarled as she charged at him, throwing a right hook she was surprised how easily he ducked it, and how painful his jab to her stomach really was, gasping for air and stumbling backwards, Sarah could see how this boy…was looking curiously at his own fist?

Spitting some saliva mixed with blood out, Sarah charged the now distracted kid; only to gape when he reacted too fast for any other human or Vault dweller for her liking grabbed her by the arm, and flipped her by the shoulder, slamming her hard on the metal ground, realizing he was about to do the same he did to the abomination, Sarah braced herself for her gruesome death.

But it never came, instead, Sarah could only stare how the guy let her arm go, and then sigh at her, "Okay woman, what was the big idea?" he asked with a scowl as he let her stand up, Sarah immediately began to scan her surroundings, trying to find a way to gain the upper hand, but all she saw was that she was royally screwed if she made a wrong move.

Licking her lips in anticipation, Sarah wondered how she should play things, it was there she realized something, besides the fact she got her ass owned by a kid ten years younger than her.

"They kidnapped you too?" his deadpan expression was all the answer she needed, groaning up, she was able to stand up, but yet she kept herself wary, after all he was from vault 101.

But if he was kidnapped even before the Enclave convinced the Vault Dwellers…

She smiled on her head, he could be a potential ally, could be of course, she shot him without any reason besides where he came from, that was, in the wasteland courtesy, and invitation to get yourself killed, she had to smooth things, at least explain herself.

"Okay…we started with the wrong foot…" the boy raised an eyebrow at her, like saying 'no shit' she had to held a groan at bay, he was willing to listen but she had to explain herself quickly or risk suffering the same fate as the abomination.

"But I have reasons okay, first of all…when you left your vault?" she asked, there he could see the boy actually giving it a thought, and then he looked at his pip-boy, and paled.

"It can't be…my pip-boy says…I escaped six months ago…but that's impossible…I remember it like if it was yesterday" he said, there she understood him, she actually believed the same, but the fact she counted the days said otherwise, she had been kidnapped a month ago, she had counted the days, still the memory of her last day on the Capital Wasteland, on a recon mission was still too alive on her head.

"Yeah I know, trust me I was kidnapped a month ago, yet I remember my last day down there like if it was just mere hours ago" she said, "First of all names okay, my name's Sarah, Sarah Lyons, you?" she said as she extended her hand, she needed to show him she was willing to talk things out, it seemed to work at least for him.

"Maverick…no last name" he said as he reached for her hand and clasped it, there she noted how smooth it was, how greatly smooth it was, like silk, if such material existed anyways, she had only read about it on some pre-war book novels, soft, inviting, the best to have around you, at least for those with the money to own it.

"Okay…Maverick, as I was saying, I attacked you because…let's say that vault residents of Vault 101 have pissed a lot of people, and allied themselves with the wrong sort" she began, shaking his hand and then releasing it, "Six months is a lot of time to shit to happen Maverick" she said as she walked and reached for her Tommy Gun on the ground, then checking the gun, she saw that beyond the scraps for being tossed around, the gun was still in the pristine state she had found it.

"About…six months…no, make it five months and 10 days ago, a pre-war faction know only as the Enclave, a shadow organization of the former USA government struck, many believed that the Enclave was a myth, even more considering they got their ass handed by a tribal in their own turf no less than sixty or seventy years ago, I truly don't know, never was good with large dates" she said as she held her gun close to her, she was still in hostile territory.

"Anyway, they hit, and hit us hard" she said, "How hard" was all Maverick asked to her, there she stared at him for a good ten seconds, "Very hard Maverick, hard enough to wake every single person of their post-apocalyptic dream, hard enough to raise alarms, hard enough to make people realize how strong they truly were" Sarah said with a strangely haunted look.

"This uniform I'm wearing is of one of them, I had to loot it out of a corpse of an Enclave officer who was just two cells away from mine when I made my escape, while I know my brothers and sisters in the citadel will hit me if they see me with this, I have to admit, it is oddly comfy" she confessed, making Maverick raise an eyebrow, "I know I'm confusing you Maverick, but believe me that right now, while you took your six month nap here, a war has been being waged down as we speak, one for survival" Sarah stated.

"I have to return down there, I need to help in the fight…heh, the good fight as Three Dog would say, and I need your help" she said as she walked towards him, this time standing face to face, only three steps separating them of each other.

"Vault 101 residents are the spear head of the Enclave army, I don't know what it was done to you guys down in those vaults, but outside, you are basically killing machines, I have seen a vault dweller armed with just a 10mm handgun decimate a whole group of mercs, and still have rounds in the clip to make himself a necklace" she said, "All in a blink of an eye, with dead aim, all headshots"

"Must be the VATS function" Maverick muttered, "VATS, what the hell is that?" she asked.

"You think the Pip-boy is a simple wrist computer? No, this thing is attacked to our nerves, it haywires them, we can basically freeze time on our heads, calculate possibilities, odds, and take them, all in less than a second, that's VATS, a vault dweller way to defend themselves" Maverick stated, making Sarah raise an eyebrow, "Well, one mystery solved I guess" she muttered as she motioned him to follow her.

He did follow her, mainly because the suit surely accentuated her butt…

"Eyes on my back or my head boy" she warned, making him raise an eyebrow, damn she is good.

Apparently she guided him back to the cell block, only that this one was littered with alien corpses, not that his way to freedom was as clean as hers, she had a gun, he only had his hands, and those damn hybrids surely bleed a lot, and have no sense of preservation whatsoever.

Finally they reached what seemed to be a room, the wardens room or something like that, there he found a pile of ashes, still smoking and a dozen of containers of alien origin, one of them was open however.

"If we are going to escape, you better suit for the task, I'm not going to be helped by someone on his underwear, or without weapons" she said, "You just say that because I beat your ass barehanded" he said back, "Ha-ha, so funny I forgot to laugh, really, I would appreciate you had a gun, it will make things infinitely easier here…you do know how to use a gun…right?"

"Of course I do, I owned a BB Gun" he shot aback with indignation, and "Killed lot of radroaches by the way" he added.

"Uh, the mighty radroach hunter, fear his deadly BB Gun" she said with all the sarcasm she could possibly add, "Oh fuck you Lyons, try to blow their antennas with a BB Gun, then we'll see who is a crack shot, and to add I did it without VATS" he said as he opened one of the containers, then kneeling and peering its contents.

"Whoa, you kiss your mom with that mouth?"

"My mom is dead" Maverick stated, making Sarah shut up instantly, "Oh…sorry Maverick…I didn't mean to…"

"Don't sweat it Sarah…I never met her anyway, she died after the labor" Maverick stated, making her sigh, "In any case it was wrong, I know better, I also lost my mom as well" she said as she turned around, "I'll make guard Maverick, you find whatever it helps you inside the containers, and if you happen to find EC packs, could you hand it to me, my gun uses those for ammo"

"Sure, just shoot anything that doesn't looks human"

"If it was that hard" Sarah said as she looked behind her, eyes focused on his butt, _"Turnaround I fair play…god what an ass" _she thought as she focused her sight then on the front, when all this nightmare was done, she could indulge herself in some eye candy, but for now she had to focus.

_Fifteen minutes later…_

"Good lord, what's taking so long back there, looking for clean underwear?" Sarah called back, "Nah, just checking the other boxes, the first one I opened had a sweet surprise inside" Maverick called back, Sarah, curious about what he meant, turned around, only to blink when she saw him encased in a white combat armor, a model she had never seen before, not only that, on the ground there was neat line up of guns, most of them normal guns, assault rifles, hunting rifles, two varmint rifles, three .32 pistols, a pair of 10mm handguns and another pair of 9mm handguns, also he was able to pull out a freaking Minigun, but sadly most of the guns were in bad to no shape to use.

Also she saw several clips of those mentioned guns, ammo she was sure would come in handy in time, oddly enough she saw a box full of 12 gauge shotgun shells, she hasn't seen a shotgun around, that was until he really stood up, and she could see a hunting shotgun, a pump action shotgun laying near his feet, she hasn't see it because his body had covered it while kneeling, also she noticed he had on his hand what seemed a futuristic looking revolver, it intrigued her seeing that kind of gun in his hands, of course intrigue turned into disbelieve when he loaded the gun with 5.56mm rounds.

"The hell, did you just loaded that with an assault rifle rounds?" he simply nodded, "Odd, don't ya think, I tried to use 10mm and 9mm rounds, but the gun won't accept them" Maverick stated.

"Odd" she said as she rubbed her chin, "It remind me of That Gun my dad once spoke" that name seemed to make Maverick head perk up, "That Gun…that's a good name, That Gun!"

"…You're naming a futuristic looking revolver…That Gun?" he didn't seemed to mind, and much to her shock, pulled another That Gun and holstered them both on identical holsters attached to his white armor, then strapped this hunting shotgun on his back, and to add he pulled two bags out as well, and handed one to Sarah, when she opened it she found herself with the nice surprise of seeing 20 EC packs inside, along with some stimpaks.

"I filled your bag with EC packs and some stimulants, if we get hurt of course, I got mine filled with ammo and I packed my stimpaks on the bags of the armor, so we are set to go" he said as he got ready to leave the room.

"Not yet" was Sarah response, "Before we leave, I want to know…I heard it only on rumors of course, some of those Vault 101 assholes, speaking in hushed whispers about two of their own leaving the vault even before the war began, they spoke of those two if like they were demons or something, they were scared" she said as she stared long and hard at Maverick.

"Now I know you are one of those two, the question is…why you left Vault 101?" she asked simply, his answer of course was simple as well, and it satisfied her greatly, proving her once and for all that he wasn't like them.

"Simple" he began, turning to face her and staring her in the eyes, "I left Vault 101, looking for my dad" he said, suddenly thinking of something, then he drew one of those That Gun out, flipping it, much to Sarah shock with expertise, then presenting it to her, "Just in case" he said with a grin, Sarah just snorted, but grabbed the gun nonetheless, he was after all, the only person, in this alien infested hell, that she could trust.

Even if he was from Vault 101.

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><p>"We need a map" Sarah muttered to Maverick, they have been walking around the halls of the place for over half and hour, they didn't exactly know if they were on a spaceship or a space station, after all aliens do come in those two things.<p>

Soon the duo reached a door, this one opening upon reaching it, there Maverick and Sarah froze at the sight, Maverick nearly going eye wide at the revolting sight.

"…Good merciful God"

Both of them were staring at a long hall, a hall that held humans, dead, butchered, eviscerated, mauled, burned, melted, boiled, beheaded, gutted apart, smeared on the ground, and overall brutalized corpses of humans inside cell rooms.

Maverick had to hold his own vile of coming out of his mouth at the sight of cells filled with corpses desecrated in such ways, Sarah remained stony and overall cold, barely glancing at the pile of corpses in the cells, and the fact the smell of rotten flesh was isolated by the cells.

To Maverick, it was like walking on a hall on Hell itself, if the descriptions of so many writers, both religious and non-religious were truth, there was no smell of brimstone or the eternal screams of the souls of the dammed as background, yet…

Yet as he walked, he could hear the screams of all those who died in the hands of the aliens, screams of indignation, screams of pain, screams for revenge, in his mind, he could heard them all, claiming for revenge, claiming for retribution, claiming, claiming…

Soon the duo finally reached a door, this one opening once they were close, Maverick wasted no time in exiting the halls, Sarah not far behind, when she approached him once the doors closed behind them, she could only hear him gasp, trying to get some air, truth to be told, she couldn't blame him, she nearly lost it as well, raiders and Super Mutants were not…so vicious, at least the raiders had the decency to burn the butchered ones, and Super Mutants, they ate it.

But what she saw in that hall, it really shook her, only her years in combat and seeing her brothers and sisters dying in horrible ways had taken away the feeling of revulsion and rage, leaving her a perfect fighting machine, problem was that she is human, and no matter how hard she tries to drown it, the sight of men, women and children corpses, held in piles, nearly unrecognizable made her rage, made her want kill every single alien on sight.

"How…how can…a living being…does that?" Maverick wondered out loud, "Truth to be told Maverick, I don't know, our world is kinda mess up, down there, is all about survival, kill or be killed, survival of the fittest, or the one with the biggest gun and the toughest armor, the person with the gun, regardless of being good or evil does the rules" Sarah stated, "Is a sad thing you know, but that's our world, our sad, little world" she muttered as she eyed Maverick, he slowly regained his breathing and colors, now she really believed he was different from any other Vault 101 dweller, he for once, had morals.

"Are you okay Maverick?" she asked, "Yes…just give me a minute Sarah" he said, trying to regain his bearing, she could sympathize with him, she had also lost that shed of innocence when she lay eyes on the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world, of course she was ten and her dad was a Paladin at that time, so she had someone familiar who could explain to her why people killed people, why others couldn't just get along.

Soon she saw Maverick finally stand outright, but looking grim and serious, "Sarah" he began, catching her attention, "Yes Maverick?"

"…We are going to kill them all for this" he said, making her smirk, she had been waiting for that statement, "Of course we will, but first we need to do some recon, first rule of battles in the wasteland Maverick, scan, then shoot to kill everything that is hostile" she stated, "…the wasteland is crazy" he muttered as he focused his sights on a room to his right, "Yeah, but that's our world"

"Indeed, Sarah, look at that room" he said as he pointed the room he was watching, through a window both humans could see two aliens working on…something, not even noticing them.

They also noted they had weapons, alien weapons, unconsciously Sarah liked her lips.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Maverick stated as he pulled his shotgun out, "Yes" Sarah hissed, hefting her Tommy Gun, slowly both humans approached the room, seeing the door closed, looking at each other, the nodded and opened the mechanical door, that drew the attention of the aliens, but just to one get its head blow of its neck by a shotgun and the other have its torso riled with cauterized holes, courtesy of a laser machinegun.

With both aliens dead, Maverick and Sarah were free to inspect the room, and loot the containers and the bodies of the aliens with impunity; well at least Sarah at first, Maverick was hesitant to do that, until Sarah pointed out the second rule on the wasteland.

"You keep what you kill"

Oddly it reminded of a movie he saw when he was twelve about a guy who was basically a bald buzz saw that could kill and army with two knifes, and in the end killed the emperor of an army, such becoming the ruler of such empire because their rule was 'you keep what you kill'

So he found himself doing the same as Sarah, looting corpses for anything that could help them.

"Hey Sarah" Maverick called, catching the attention of the woman who was currently checking some a pair of containers.

"What do you make of these?" he said as he held a pair of rifles, or that seemed at least to Sarah, the chromed finish on the entire weapon made it odd, not only that, it seemed like mixture of an assault rifle in the body, with the length body of a sniper rifle, and the muzzle end of a very old shotgun, the trigger was perhaps the biggest thing of it all, no seriously, the trigger was as big as her hand.

"Seems…like a shotgun" she stated with some apprehension.

"Shotguns eh?" he said as he turned around, lowered the rifle he held on his right hand, and fired it, Sarah just stared as a solid blue ball of energy, or plasma sailed out of the muzzle end, sailing the room and impacting on a wall, leaving a melted portion of the wall upon impact.

"Okay so it's a rifle" she said as she grabbed the one Maverick had on his left hand, examining the weapon, she could already see Rotchchild having mini-gasm at the sight of such advanced weapon.

"How many rounds this thing can fire? Forget that what kind of ammo uses?" she wondered.

"You know that my Pip-boy haywires my senses and makes vault dwellers defend themselves better, right?" she nodded at his question, "Well, it does more than that, it basically gives us a HUD vision"

"Heads Up Display…nice" she said, "Yeah, is useful too, kinda bothersome because we can't turn it off, it displays the basic mostly, health, sometimes it displays parts of the body that are crippled or broken, a Radiation display, showing levels of radiation and how it raises, and if we have weapons it shows the ammo count…I don't know how it does the last" Maverick stated, making her raise an eyebrow.

"When we hold a gun it show us in the HUD the amount of rounds in the clip and how much we have in reserve…still I wonder how the hell they do that" he mumbled, "Okay, so every gun you hold, you will know how much rounds you have left, freaky but useful, now I want to know how many rounds this one has" she said, pointing at the alien rifle.

"A hundred" that answer of Maverick had her stupefied, "A hundred rounds? Damn" she mussed, slightly glancing at the weapon, then grinding, this rifle was heavily accurate, the energy rounds the rifle fired didn't met air resistance, and had surplus of rounds, now for the ammo.

"Oh, almost forgot" he stated as he kneeled on one of the alien corpses, and pulled out of their pockets something that resembled a AA battery, but in a bright glowing blue.

"I think this is the ammo for their guns" he said as he handed a pair to Sarah, the woman smiled as she was handed the 'ammo' and pocketed it, then she pouted when she saw him strap the other alien rifle on his back, alongside the shotgun, also he took one of the alien looking handguns, also chrome polish end, it was odd for her to see that kind of weapon, especially since she had been used to see the more human looking laser handguns and plasma guns, most of those always had exposed wires, this one didn't.

"20 rounds…good enough" he said as he held the gun on his hand, taking four of those alien ammo and pocketing it on one of the pouches of the armor.

"It seems this is some sort of checkpoint or something" Sarah commented, looking at the console in front of her, "Maybe…maybe this will have a map of the area, or the whole ship, space station, whatever the hell we are" Maverick muttered, holstering the alien handgun and looking form some sort of port or something, "Aha, found you" he said as he reached for his Pip-boy and pulled a cable out of the machine, then inserted it on the console in front of them.

"IF I'm right, I might be able to download the layout of this place, that way it will be easier for us to navigate" he stated as his Pip-boy automatically began to work.

After a minute, the Pip-boy beeped, signaling to Maverick that it had finalized its download, after separating the cable of the console, Maverick began to flip around his Pip-boy options, until he found the one he wanted.

"Okay Sarah, I got the map" he began, signaling her the options displayed, there, to everyone to see, she could see a map displayed in the LDC screen, along with a dot that signaled the location of Maverick.

"Okay, it seems that we have four long halls that are connected to this room" Maverick began, "We already crossed one" Sarah stated neutrally, but Maverick scowled at that.

"The other two halls have no other connections whatsoever, dead ends" Maverick stated, "So, we only have just one only road, excellent" Sarah muttered, not liking the idea so much.

"I hope is not like the other one" Maverick muttered, Sarah in all honesty, hoped the same.

"Well, there is only way to find out" Sarah muttered as she began to walk towards the door Maverick's Pip-boy showed, so said boy following her, soon both were standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the closed mechanical door.

"You're ready Maverick?" she asked, "…Yeah" he said as he pulled That Gun out, and narrowed his eyes, Sarah smirked, with a nod of Maverick, Sarah opened the mechanical doors, what she saw on the other side made her gasp in utter fear.

There, on the other end, about twenty meters away, was a Super Mutant, she could tell any Super Mutant of others, this one was of course an Overlord class, the bigger frame and ugliest face, not as much as a Behemoth Super Mutant face, or even yet, the so mythical Gargantuan Super Mutant, twice the size of a behemoth, and twice as stupid and strong.

But what had her in fear was not the sight of the Overlord, with the weapons she had and the support of the super freaky strong Maverick, they could take care of the Overlord with ease, after all it bleeds, and all that can bleed, can die.

What had her on the edge was what the Overlord had on his head and on his right hand, on his head he had some sort of device, like a high tech helmet, but attached straight to his skull, like the one most Deathclaws employed by the Enclave as weapons had on their heads, just this one, like the alien weapons, had a chrome polished finish, and looked more stylish, or as stylish it can be with something inserted on your cranium.

The other thing, the thing on his hand was that had her on the edge, and so Maverick, it was no weapon, it was a little girl, a simple, little girl with blonde hair, held by her jacket by the meaty hand of the Overlord.

"H-h-help" the little girl gasped out, barely audible to Sarah, but it had an impact for Maverick.

With a roar that startled Sarah, Maverick began to advance at the Overlord, aiming That Gun at the Overlord and firing it.

At first, to Sarah it seemed his aim was terrible, until she saw where he was shooting, each shot nailed perfectly the four visible knuckles and the wrist of the Overlord with dead on accuracy, something she doubted even Vault dwellers using VAST would be able to accomplish.

The five shots had the desired effect, causing the Overlord to release the little girl who fell on the ground, groaning in pain, but relieved to be free of the beast.

With that accomplished, Maverick tossed That Gun aside, and rushed at top speed at the Overlord, not even bothering to draw other of his weapons, the overlord saw this as a plain sign of defiance and advanced as well, not as fast as Maverick, but Sarah knew that Overlords were know for two things, how tough they were to kill, and the sponge for bullets they were, and where heavy enough to withstand a charge of a Deathclaw at full throttle.

But this didn't seem the case, this time, Maverick and the Overlord collided nearly in the middle of the hall, much to Sarah shock, Maverick was able to tackle down the Overlord with such brutality and strength that she winced when she heard several bones of the Overlord crack like nothing.

Now on the ground, Maverick let his fist sail to the beast face, twice, each blow nearly caved the Overlord's face in, but when Maverick was about to deliver the third blow the Overlord left hand reached for Maverick's head, grabbing it and tossing him to a wall like a ragdoll, this however didn't seemed to stop Maverick at all.

Releasing Maverick was the greatest error the Overlord made ever, as it slowly stood up, Maverick was already standing up and good to go, letting his right feet sail, he delivered a powerful kick to the Overlord's back, making the beast stagger on its feet, then while behind it, let several hooks to the sides and kidneys of the Overlord, each blow, to Sarah's ears was like someone was using a Power Fist to beat the shit out of a car, and bend steel, that hard.

The Overlord, still in pain and still giving its back to Maverick was unable to counter the enhanced human when this one grabbed him by the waist and flipped him down, to Sarah who was watching, Maverick had executed a perfect German suplex, then without leaving the overlord off his grab, Maverick repeated the suplex, Sarah had to hand it to the Overlord, it was taking such a beating and was still alive, she knew most Super Mutants wouldn't be able to take such punishment.

As the Overlord remained on the ground, soundly defeated, Maverick wasn't done with it, grabbing its left arm, he poised his feet over the Overlord's shoulder, and pulled.

"_He won't" _Sarah thought with some apprehension, there was no way that Maverick, with all his inhuman strength would be able to rip the Overlord's arm cleanly.

That became horror as she saw the Overlord's sneering face turn into pain as the arm began to be rip off, skin detaching off and exposing overstressed muscles that were trying to keep the arm attached, then the sound of something being ripped off, like ripping someone's clothes, but with a lot of blood.

The Overlord screamed in pain and turned to its back, only to 'uff' when Maverick placed his foot on his chest, breaking any remaining ribs of its chest, lifted the severed arm, and started to use it as a club against the Overlord's face.

Both girls could only see in abject horror and morbid fascination as Maverick brutalized the Overlord with its own severed arm, lasting for over a minute slamming the limb on the head of the Overlord with inhuman strength, all while cursing the beast for manhandling the little girl and hurting her.

The beating, thankfully for Sarah, ended when the last blow finally caved in the face of the Overlord, making the metallic cover or helmet on its head to pop open, exposing its brain and killing the Overlord by the heavy head trauma Maverick had proportioned to the beast, it also helped that the brain was exposed to the elements.

With the beast dead, Maverick tossed the arm away, and then slowly took several steps back, resting his back on the metallic walls of the hall and then slowly sliding to the ground, letting long intakes of breath fill his lungs and closing his eyes.

Sarah slowly made her way to Maverick, surveying the hall portion he and the Overlord had fought, the portion had blood smeared on the walls because of Maverick mad swings at the Overlord's face with its own severed arm, and of course the Overlord's own blood pooling on the ground, along with any liquids contained in its brain.

Kneeling and picking That Gun, Sarah slowly made her way to Maverick and stood in front of him, she didn't noted how the little girl slowly stood up as well, wincing somewhat and approaching Maverick who was pale as a sheet of paper.

"I…gotta hand it to ya Maverick, no one has ever taken an Overlord barehanded and actually kill it" she said as she kneeled in front of Maverick, this one looking at her with a haunted expression.

"…Sarah…what…what these aliens did to me?" he wondered, "I don't know Maverick, I really don't know" she confessed as she took his hand and placed That Gun on his hand.

"But they are going to regret ever doing it to ya" she stated as she turned and then focused her sights on the little girl Maverick had saved, the girl was spooked, of that was certain, but of her ordeal or Maverick she wasn't sure.

Suddenly the little girl lunged herself at Maverick, and began to weep.

Maverick didn't know what to do at first, then slowly, ever slowly he hugged the girl back, and began to cry as well.

Sara could only glance on the sidelines as the stress of this day finally took its toll on Maverick, he finally broke and wept, she let him cry as long as he wanted, she let him cry for his lost innocence and whatever twisted experiment the aliens did to him, she let him cry alongside the little girl, she let them cry.

She let them cry because she could not longer cry; she let them cry for her.

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><p><strong><em>So there you have it, Chapter 1 of my story.<em>**

**_to those who might have noted, yes I played the beta of gears of war 3, yes i played as the locust horde and yes i did the last kill as a locust by executing my enemy, ripping his arm off and hitting it with his same arm, as long as the Y button apeared and allowed me to, allw hile benting my rage for the suckass team i was provided before and i had to salvage because they didn't understand the dammed two cannon sawed-off shotgun is overpowered and can blast three oponents point-blank._**

**_and yes, I enjoyed doing that over and over again._**

**_without anything else to say, I leave you all to read an enjoy this chapter, till a next time, Hypn0s signs off, peace._**


	3. 2: Project Zeta

_**hello readers! Hypn0s is back, and yet again with another chapter of the chornicles of maverick.**_

_**i must say I'm actually surprised how well the story has been recieved, even more than my first fallout fanfic, in either case tyhis motivates me to make eve more chapters than ever.**_

_**now for this chapter you will notice that some characters are acting very diffrent than from the game, or that some characters know others, or other storylines come across, like New Vegas storyline, like I said before, this is all part of my stroy before, I believe that Fallout 3 would be big, even more than now with some New Vegas stroyline, some characters of there, changed of course, after all this is all AU, and Fallout New Vegas was admitted to be a story with no relationship whatsoever with Fallout 3.**_

_**so without any delay, I give you all chapter 2.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 2: PROJECT ZETA<strong>

The room they found was perhaps the closest they would ever find of something human, or at least human made and human decorated in this god forsaken place, really what kind of being would control an Overlord to track down a little girl.

The little girl, Sally if Sarah heard correctly, was also an abducted, like them, who had escaped her cell about a month ago, the time Sarah had been in captivity, and had been trying to make her way to the hangars where the aliens had their spaceships, hijack one and fly as far as possible of them, along with stashing enough supplies to last her for a lifetime.

Thing was that she got lost on the way, kept insisting she should have turned right, the place was so huge that you actually needed a map to find your way around.

In any case she got lost, ended up crossing paths with a group of aliens, got away of them easily, according to her she had been escaping them a long time, but this time the aliens seemed tired of her, and send the controlled Overlord against her, to capture and to kill her, which had her spooked beyond any reason, that was until Maverick and Sarah had crossed paths with her and saved her.

Now the room they were was in fact a secret room where she had been hiding and not even the aliens knew about, taking stuff and stashing what she could find, mostly food and aliens gadgets, she also, somehow was able to drag a mattress so she could sleep as well, and also stole alien weaponry.

Sally was basically, in Sarah eyes, a very curious girl with an unhealthy appetite for adventure, if several of her exploits around the place were to believe, according to Sally she actually once led a wild goose chase for over two hours, and only ended when she got hungry, and twisted her ankle.

In any case, Sally was currently sitting on the mattress, resting while Sarah checked the little girl of any visible wounds and checked her torso for any broken ribs, after all she had been manhandled by an Overlord, wounds made by those monsters are not to be taken lightly.

As she finished examining Sally, she turned her sights to Maverick, much to her surprise he had disassembled several of the alien handguns Sally had stole and stashed around, and was picking the pieces of the disarmed weapons, and putting them together on a new weapon, she found odd that he disarmed That Gun as well.

"Oh, you're using the super-coilers and magnet barrels to make a gauss handgun?" Sally asked, "Yeah, I disarmed the first alien gun and saw it used magnets and super-coilers attached to a barrel to propel extremely fast and hot plasma like rounds, is both solid and energy at the same time, true plasma weapons, and so I decided to mess with That Gun, since is big enough and compatible with some of the parts" Maverick stated as a matter of fact, and so he began to talk with Sally about the newly improved That Gun

Sarah could only blink as these two began to talk all scientific mumbo jumbo like if it was discussing the weather, which to her it could be so to her, the only things she got of their conversation was 'enhanced firing' 'shots 20 rounds per alien battery' and 'A badass weapon to kill badass opponents' oh and who can forget the last line 'can punch a hole through 5 inches of titanium'

Now she knows that when you say Gauss you relate it also to Rifle and ridiculous firing power and penetration per bullet, a Gauss Rifle round, shot close range, not point-blank, but by at least five meters between target and barrel is guarantee to punch a clean hole in that target, regardless if it wears a Power Armor, Enclave troopers learned that the hard way, also the rifle, since it was semi-automatic and had a sniper scope, acted as a very overpowered sniper rifle, only met in power with the NCR anti-materiel sniper rifle.

Now that they had time, and a shelter of sorts, she could wonder one thing in particular.

What in God's name those aliens did to Maverick?

Super strength could be easily explained, at least to her, she is no doctor or something, but heavy doses of Buffout are enough to overpower anyone, yet it doesn't match even in a dream the unnatural strength of Maverick, not the resistance he displayed, after all he was grabbed by an Overlord and tossed to a wall like a ragdoll, and was still good to go, nor the fact he was able to rip the arm of an Overlord like if it was nothing.

Not to mention that she knows by experience that Vault Dwellers, while smart, are not as smart as Maverick is showing now, he's basically making a gun out of scrap, and while most wastelanders have made weapons out of scraps, the dart gun, railway rifle and the dreadful Deathclaw gauntlet being examples, he was making a whole new gun out an alien weapon parts and adding it to a human handgun like if it was nothing.

Soon she saw him finish, and smirked at his own creation, whatever the hell he had done to That Gun, she did noted however that he did not remove several parts of the gun like the cylinder where the rounds were stored, or nothing of the exterior, the only thing that was added outside the gun was that now he added one of those alien batteries and such battery was now added inside the grip of the gun, like if loading a standard handgun.

Maverick, now noticing the gaze of Sarah on him, simply smiled, "Hey Sarah, want me to thinker with any of your guns?"

"Uh…no thanks" she said, while she had to wonder what That Gun could do now, past experience has taught her that mod guns, especially mod guns that made it to her hands end up broken or nearly take her hands in an explosion, not so nice, no one knows why this happens to her, but Rothchild keeps insisting that he will never hand her anything remotely moded.

"Okay" Sally began, "That should be able to punch trough their inertial fields" she began, gaining the attention of both adults.

"Inertia fields?" Sarah wondered out loud, "Yeah…think of them as personal energy shields"

"They have of those?" Sarah asked in clear shock, "Yeah, but only their elite security units and their elite combat shock units wears them, I can tell you this however, those shields can take a pounding before failing, I have seen them taking a whole magazine of a minigun point-blank" Sally stated, making Sarah gulp at that.

"The good news is that kinetic rounds propelled at max speed will be able to punch trough the inertia fields, the bad news is that their shock troopers are…too mechanical" Sally stated, standing up of the bed and looking at both adults.

"Great, now we are dealing with robots, and I don't have pulse grenades to deal with them" she said, "I doubt it will work" Sally stated simply, "While their bodies are of that of a machine…their brains are purely organic" Sally stated, making both adults frown at that.

"Reminds me of the Robobrains that usually wander around, guess is aiming to the head then" Sarah stated as if she was discussing the weather.

"If we are going to escape, we are going to need to work together for this; you say that this place has a hangar, right?" Sally nodded at Sarah's question, "Good, I hope you know how to pilot a ship, because you're coming with us" Sarah stated, Maverick didn't say nothing, but it was obvious he was against the idea, but it was either this or t alternative, leaving Sally behind with the aliens.

"And the other abductees? We can't just leave them behind Sarah" Maverick stated, making Sarah sigh, "Okay Maverick, another lesson on the wasteland, rule three, the only life that counts outside is one own, no one else…"

"BULLSHIT!" he snapped, making Sally basically jump behind Sarah and so said woman to cringe, "I believe the first two 'rules' because they have fundaments, but the last one? It does not, we are humans Sarah, not animals, we can't just turn a blind eye to the problems of others just because we can!" he snapped, making Sarah blink.

"Is how things run down there, there is no law, no order, no rights, is not like your vault Maverick" Sarah snapped back, "Well Lyons, excuse me for having morals, but that's how my dad raised me, to believe that everyone has a chance"

"And how about the aliens here, do they have a chance of change?" she asked back, "This is different and you know it, they drew the line when they started using us as animals, I believe since they were all superior minded they would have a higher set of morals, but no, they are less than animals for doing this to a sapient specie, and they will pay the price for it" Maverick stated.

"Then why should we worry about the others?"

"Because we can Sarah, that's why!" he stated, "I thought you would understand that, all soldier and fighting for a reason besides survival, freedom, the right to choose our leaders and to live…guess I was wrong" he stated as he took That Gun and walked away.

"Maverick, Maverick! Where the hell you think you're going!" Sarah snapped.

"Do make a difference here Lyons…unlike you" he said as he opened the door of the secret room of Sally and then this one closed automatically behind him.

Sarah just stood rooted on the same spot she was, looking at the door Maverick had left, then heard Sally huff.

"Nice going" Sally began, "He was our best chance to escape and you just chase him away" Sally chastised the Sentinel, Sarah just rubbed her nose bridge.

"Dammit, this god forsaken spaceship is crazy, I'm getting snapped by a little girl" Sarah stated tiredly as she collapsed on the mattress.

"This is no spaceship Sarah, is a space station" Sarah eyes were wide at that revelation, but not at much as the next one, "And for the record, I'm over 200 years old"

"…oh hell no" Sarah moaned as her brain tried to process those two things Sally told her, the last one might be comprehensible, after all if the aliens gave Maverick superhuman strength, it was not too beyond to think that the same aliens might have found a way to stall or outright stop the aging process on a person.

But the first one had her worried, not because they were on an alien space station, but because the Enclave had a satellite from which they had been overseeing the DC area and had used to coordinate their most devastating attacks yet.

What really stopped them of turning the satellite and finding this place?

"Sarah, come on" her wonders came to an end when Sally tucked her hand, "We got to find Maverick!" Sally exclaimed, "Why should we, he made it clear he doesn't want to escape"

"No" Sally stated, "He said he won't leave no one behind while you, he and me escape this place, is not fair for them" Sally stated.

"What is fair Sally? Trust me on this, nothing is fair in life" Sarah muttered, "I know that, I lost my parents to the bombs, and my sisters to the aliens, even Maverick knows this, whatever they did to him makes him feel lost and desperate, I can see it" Sally stated, making Sarah furrow her brow.

"In any case he is not my concern; he is not one of my fellow brothers in steel" Sarah added, "Dammit that doesn't matter here!" Sally snapped, making Sarah bristle like an angry Yao Guai.

"Doesn't matter? The chains of steel are all I got in my life, is what makes me who I am, I don't expect you a relic of the past and a vault dweller to understand this!" she snapped, suddenly going eye wide when she realized that once again, her rage had gotten the best of her.

Sally just looked at Sarah grimly before turning her back on her, then slowly walking to a box, opening it, it revealed a heavy looking plasma handgun, now armed, Sally proceed to leave Sarah.

"Sally…Sally wait!" the girl didn't heed, she just walked away, leaving Sarah alone.

"…FUCK" Sarah exclaimed as she tossed around and began to throw anything that she came across along the room, finally when she had nothing else to throw, she collapsed on her back, and sighed.

"Why? It always gets the worse out of me" she sighed even more, wondering how she would remotely fix this mess she had started.

Thinking it hard for a minute, Sarah made her choice, standing up she left the room as well, ready to apologize to those two.

She had crossed the line with them, and she needed to at least explain them why she had done it.

* * *

><p>Maverick kept advancing, trying to make as much distance of him and Sarah, thing was that he was unable to.<p>

No matter he tried to justify his actions, she was right, not only here, but down there, on Earth, on the ruins of DC, on the Capital Wasteland, how could one person made a difference?

"You know…leaving like that made you like a jerk" turning around, he spotted Sally of all people, what seemed an energy handgun strapped to the belt of her pants, "Sally? What are you doing here?"

"You think that I'm going to let you wander around and get yourself killed because you had an argument with your girlfriend about morals?" she asked bluntly.

"Sarah ain't my girlfriend" he deadpanned, "Riiiight" Sally began, rolling her eyes, "And I'm not 200 years old, oh come on you discuss like an old married couple"

"We do not…wait, 200 years old"

"That's not important, what matters here is that like it or not, we are in this, together" she began, not missing the incredulous look on his eyes, "200…years old"

"Yeah" a third voice made the duo turn, and to Maverick to narrow his eyes, "I got the same reaction when she told me here age" Sarah stated as she made her way to them, only to stop some inches of them.

"What do you want Lyons" Maverick snapped, Sarah grimaced, but steeled herself, "I…wanted to apologize" Sally and Maverick rose an eyebrow at that, Sarah doesn't look, for them like a woman who apologizes often, or apologizes at all.

"I know I went over the line with you two" before Maverick could ask what she meant by that she continued, "Sometimes I forget that other people have other set of ideas that will rub me the wrong way…and…" she hesitated at the last part.

"Is just…you…you remind me…of me…before the war" Sarah confessed, looking at Maverick straight in the eyes, "Before the war we had it easy, you know? My routine was more focused on patrolling the DC ruins, shooting every single Frankenstein-I mean super mutant on sight, every centaur on sight, help every scavenger we found, keep GNR plaza and building on one piece…but war…it changes you, even more than living in the wasteland" she confessed.

"I lost so many people…so many brothers and sisters, I also had your philosophy, that one person could make a difference…but I was wrong, a lone person cannot make a difference" she stated bitterly.

"I learned that…the hard way" she said finally, Maverick just stared at Sarah, not knowing what to say, but Sally did.

"You lost…someone, right?" Sarah looked at Sally, then smiled sadly, "Yeah, that I did…in the Brotherhood is encouraged to marry inside the organization, dating an all that jazz, we are a very closed community, thank steel when haven't reached the point of marrying cousins, ugh" she shuddered at that, incest and cannibalism was above all, the most frowned acts a humans could do to another, even more than murder.

"We were dating for over two years, we were seriously considering marriage, that was until war came, the Enclave…they attacked an outpost that, while not important as strategic position, was usually used by initiates to train, they slaughter them" she said, "And we wanted revenge"

"What happened?" Sally wondered, "What happened? We got butchered, he…Jason…he was there as well, one of the recon guys, after the battle told me that there was nothing they could recover of them, nothing solid to bury at least, they had been torn apart, melted by plasma shots, burned alive and their ashes spread to the four winds…the only thing they could recovered, besides broken guns was his holo-tag…and a message from the murderers" she said darkly.

"…Be ready, the wrath of the true humans shall purify this wasteland…" Sarah hissed trough teeth, "I can't forget that message or the name who wrote it" she then glanced at Maverick.

"That was the first contact we had with both The Enclave and Vault 101…" she said, "Since that day I bowed to hunt down the dwellers that killed them, and I will" she said, staring at Maverick dead on the eyes, "Tell me…does the name Amata Almodovar rings a bell?"

By the way he paled like his armor, it seemed so.

"…Yes" he said softly, like not wanting to accept what he had been told, "Amata…what have you done?"

Sarah seemed to see his distress, with a intake of breath she approached him and Sally, "Listen…I know I did wrong back there, to both of you" she said, kneeling to meet Sally level, "The war down there, it changes you, it twists you…in my case I was in such a stress that I didn't care how many people died around me, all I wanted was revenge, you of all people should know this Maverick, I attacked you just because you were of vault 101"

He nodded solemnly, still not wrapping up the idea that his childhood best friend had been a murderer.

Yet, he had to remind himself he had killed as well, he who got his ass owned too many times by Butch and his gang, he is still trying to figure out how he was able to escape fully trained guards when he was unable to even lay a punch on Butch.

"Sally" Sarah continued, "I…listen, I was out of the line the way I treated you okay…is just that…things haven't been easier for me, and I can guess that they haven't been easier for you either" Sally slowly nodded at that, "And well… (Sigh) god is hard to apologize to someone older than me…what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry…and you're right" Sarah confessed.

"In a sense I mean, while you're right that here we have to depend with each other, but…the bonds…the bonds I made with my brothers and sisters…they are my family Sally, regardless of where they are, they are family, always will" Sarah stated finally.

"Okay then" Sally stated, "But don't do it again OK?" Sarah smiled at that, regardless if Sally indeed had 200 years; she was still a child at heart.

Slowly standing up, she gazed at Maverick, wondering how he was handling the news she had just given to him, it seemed he did knew Amata, and by the looks of it, he seems unable to accept the fact she was the person who led the butcher of several initiates, unarmed initiates she had forgotten to tell him.

"Maverick…how you're holding up?"

"How I'm holding up?" he snorted at that question, "How would You hold up when someone tells you that the person you have know since you were a baby, grew with and believed you knew suddenly turned to be a murderer and allied with elitist bastards?" he asked to her.

"I can say…mess up?" she answered with a question, making him to bitterly laugh, then sigh, "Sarah" he began, "Can you tell me the names of those in Vault 101 involved with the Enclave, and what the Enclave really wants?" she simply chuckled sadly at him, she knew that each name she would tell of those inside Vault 101 would bring him to despair, after all he should know them.

"From what intelligence and Reilly Rangers, a merc group that allied with us said, Vault 101 force is divided into two groups, younglings, and old sort, the younglings are less, but they are quite vicious, we don't have full names, but we do have their leaders pinned, the first is the Spec ops leader and commander, Amata Almodovar" Maverick winced at that name, making Sarah realize how really close Maverick and Amata were while on the Vault, before the war began.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised, Amata always had a knack of basically sneaking everywhere, hell she knew about a secret entrance and exit to the Overseer's office and into the vault 101 exit" Maverick replied.

"Well, yeah, I can imagine, mostly her Spec ops unit is formed by females of her age or younger, thus earning the nickname 'Femme Fatales' or so I have been told" Sarah stated, making Maverick groan, he knew every single girl of Amata's age range and below it, and realized her unit was over 56 women from nineteen years to at least twelve or ten.

"The other unit, well is more like a gang" there she heard him actually groan, "Stop there Sarah, let me guess, they are called 'Tunnel Snakes' and are led by a guy named Butch DeLoria, right?"

"Yeah…how do you know?" she asked, "Simple, Butch was my…personal tormentor back in Vault 101, a bully if you will, back then I was unable to flip people and beings ten times my mass and size and rip their arms off and club them to death with them, yet I managed to handle Butch for fifteen years, I still wonder how I was able to escape the vault" he said.

"Okay, that aside, there is also the old bunch, you could say that they are intelligence gathering and tech experts, pre-war artifacts they know how to use it, pretty much, they are glorified mechanics" Sarah stated, making Maverick smirk, he could imagine why the 'old bunch' as Sarah refer to, stayed behind.

"As for the Enclave, well, for what my dad told me, the Brotherhood clashed with the Enclave a long time ago, originally they were a shadow organization that pulled the strings behind the US government, or so I have been told, in any case when the bombs fell, they were already hidden inside their own private vaults, and waiting for the oncoming fallout" Sarah stated.

"Then they surfaced, apparently they didn't like too much the new world, and while it was lawless, it lacked some of the sins of the old world, regardless of that, the Enclave deployed on a small tribal town called Navarro, each one of its residents being descendants of former Vault dwellers, and began to experiment with them with something called FEV, or Forced Evolutionary Virus, for what we found in some ruins, it seems that the FEV is responsible for the Super Mutants, including the Overlord you killed" Sarah said with a sigh.

"The Enclave however was defeated that same year by a tribal, their base basically leveled up, ever since we believed they were gone, and the Eye-bots around the wasteland were just remnants of the Enclave propaganda, giving a pre-recorded broadcast on a infinite loop, guess we were wrong" Sarah said bitterly.

"In terms of power, well they are in par, if not superior to the Brotherhood in both manpower and firepower, while the Brotherhood scavenges old technology for safe keeping an use if needed, the Enclave has developed their own weapons and Power Armors, they use Plasma based weaponry, similar to the weapon Sally has" Sarah began, making Sally blink, "Uh…I found this gun on a safe that was going to be dumped on a waste disposal area on the station" Sally stated.

"Their power armors are far more advanced that the T-51b models used 200 years ago, not to mention that their Hellfire models are tougher to penetrate, even with Gauss Rifles" Sarah said.

"We have an edge that is that we count with the support of the wastelanders to help us, but the Enclave is ruthless, there are rumors that they have Talon Company, a group of very depraved mercs on their side as well, also they have Vault 101 residents as their main hit force, found a way to clone cannon fodder, and use Deathclaws to deal massive damage"

"Okay, they are bad news, or so you say, until not seeing, not believing" Maverick said, making Sarah scoff, "That…might come a little earlier than before" Sally stated, catching their attention, "Listen, from here we can take two routes, one leads to a scientific area, we need to go there because, truth to be told I want to really know what they did to Maverick" Sally began.

"That is valid Sally, and the other one" Sarah asked, "The other one is a detention cells, the space station has several detention cells all around it, the one you two were must be the 'ones to be disposed off ASAP' Cell section, the one close to us is more used by new arrivals" Sally said, when seeing the look of both adults, she kept going.

"Well, about a week ago I went across that section, I assumed that since there was new people there, freaked people, they could help me, well turns out that the aliens kidnapped a bunch of jerks" Sally said with a pout.

"Half of them have the same uniform you wear Sarah" Sally began, making so said woman to go eye wide, "And well, three or four of them have the same wrist computer you have" she added at Maverick, making him sober, "The rest were on their underwear" she ended.

Sarah had already the gears on her head working overtime, the aliens had actually kidnapped Enclave members, now that was a new one, and could actually act as a boon for her, and she could get them to cough all the information about the Enclave, how? Well she could have Maverick punch a hole on one of the metal walls and scare them, telling them that she was the non-painful and most sensate choice over a guy who could rip your head off if you didn't tell him what he wanted to hear.

The thing was that there was also Vault Dwellers, and that could make Maverick take bad emotions, especially concerning those with the Vault Dwellers that were on jail.

But also she saw reason behind Sally's first option; she would lie if she told someone she didn't want to know what the aliens had done to Maverick, truth to be told, she was aching to know what the aliens had done to Maverick, what kind of drugs they had used to augment Maverick's strength to insane levels, not only that, his body, especially his muscles and brain had to be enhanced somewhat to endure the unnatural stress put to them.

"I guess…we should go first to the cells, I don't know you, but perhaps seeing me and Maverick around might cause those guys to lose their tongues" Sarah said, making Maverick and Sally to stare at her oddly.

"…What? You have any idea how hard is to capture and Enclave officer or trooper alive? They commit suicide on the spot" she commented, making both Maverick and Sally to sigh, while they didn't knew what the Enclave were truly capable, not seeing them beforehand, from what they had learned from Sarah, it sounded that they were bad news.

Maverick immediately brought the map on his Pip-boy and pointed where the cells Sally mentioned were, oddly enough, both the cells and the scientific area Sally had mentioned as well were connected as well, Sarah summarized that since the aliens saw humans as less than animals and more as things to be put on slabs and be dissected, it didn't seem odd that they had a lab close to a supply of fresh 'specimens' to be carried with less time and less effort.

"I…guess" Maverick stated, "But for the record I say is a bad idea" he added, pulling his hunting shotgun out, "Dully noted Maverick" she said as she turned around, then stopped and looked at the wayward vault dweller, "Trust me on this Maverick, once you see them, you'll see what I meant about bad news" she added as she walked away, leaving both experimented abductees behind.

Sally just looked at Maverick, then turned to stare at the retreating Sarah, "Come on Maverick, I don't like it either, but is better than nothing…at least she apologized" she exclaimed, making Maverick sigh with a small smile tugging on his lips, "Maybe…" he said as he followed Sarah and Sally onto the cells, "But it doesn't mean I like it" he said as he held the shotgun even closer to him, hammering the gun once, Maverick got rid of the empty shell he had forgotten to remove when he fired the shotgun once.

And as the shell fell to the ground, Maverick followed the two girls, really hoping that things could get easier this time.

_**Five minutes later…**_

Apparently, as he could see, life was not granting him a breather, even after he got kidnapped and experimented by aliens.

"Well…this is familiar somehow" Sarah muttered, staring at the scene before them.

The scene before them, at least to Maverick and Sally was not entirely familiar, not at all, in fact Maverick found himself frowning as he walked around.

"Watch it Maverick, maybe some of these bodies are booby trapped" Sarah stated, staring at the body of the Enclave officer who had its neck broken on an impossible angle, well one that only a Super Mutant or Maverick could achieve.

The trio had made it almost safely to the cells, almost being the keyword because halfway they encountered what seemed an alien robot, this one floated of course, and, according to Sarah, didn't hold a candle against a robobrain or a sentry bot.

That thought died the moment the robot nearly bitch slapped Sarah's head away, and made a neat gouge on one of the thick metal walls, of course what had in strength lacked it in resistance, Sally had reacted fast enough and had shot her plasma gun, one shot and the floating robot was done for.

That had been the only interesting thing they had found until they reached the cells, once they reached the cells, they saw that something had indeed happened.

At least a dozen of aliens, armed with shock batons lay dead on the ground, that wasn't odd by anyone's standards, considering the fragility of the alien's bodies, they were surprised that they didn't die by just having their necks crushed by the mighty weight of their big heads.

That didn't strike her as odd, what she found odd was the dead bodies of the Enclave officers and troopers on the ground, two of them sported some serious wounds on their bodies, to be more precise, on their necks and heads, abrasions and concussions.

"They killed each other" Sarah stated, looking at the corpses, seeing that none was booby trapped or something like that.

"Dammit all to hell" Maverick muttered angrily, earning the attention of his two companions, "I know this pair of guys" he said as he kneeled and turned the bodies of two guys wearing Pip-boys, like him, "This old man" he said as he pointed at the dead old man who oddly had Butch's hairdo, "Is Butch's grandfather, Albert DeLoria, he was the one who put the idea of a gang on Butch's head, always carried a concealed switchblade, the one he gave to Butch and my dad 'liberated' for parts" Maverick said with a smirk, then he turned serious as he looked at the other corpse with revulsion.

"This guy whoever" he said as he pointed at the body of the dark skinned man with a shaved head, "Is Paul Hannon, security chief on the vault, I beat that guy so badly with my bat that I know I broke several of his ribs" he said as he stood up.

"Both died of unnatural causes" he said as he stared at Sarah, "Albert presents signs of suffering a heart attack, Paul however…oddly enough has blood oozing out of his ears and nose, I don't know what could have provoke it, but it think it was an aneurysm, but is odd, he never showed signs of having one, or headaches or a head tumor, dad would have seen it" Maverick added.

"Maybe they were experimented as you were" Sarah offered, taking several of the batons, along with what seemed a thick looking syringes filled with a metallic blue liquid inside out of the bodies of the aliens.

"Maybe the experiments they did to you are not exactly repeatable, and safe to another human to undertake" Sarah mentioned, making him nod, "Is a possibility, but I find odd something" he began, "Sally said there was three to four vault dwellers, where are the other two?"

Whatever Sarah or sally were to say to Maverick died out when the doors behind them opened, immediately the trio aimed their weapons at the intruder…

"Hey what the hell? I'm a human! Lower those things dammit!" only to blink, but keeping their guns aimed at the dark skinned woman who held a shotgun, a riot shogun to be more precise on her hands, unlike the other three however, she wasn't aiming her gun at them.

Sally and Maverick kept their gaze on the dark skinned woman, seeing that she had her head shaved, but was slowly growing back, but Sarah actually smirked at the woman as she lowered her laser machinegun.

"Well…I'll be dammed…Somah" Sarah said as she looked at the woman straight in the eyes, by her part, Somah looked at Sarah curiously, then smirked as well.

"Sarah Lyons, well I'll be dammed, you bitch!" Somah said as she advanced Sarah, the blond woman doing the same, in an instant both women where in what Maverick had seen as a 'manly hug' all strong pats to the back that could easily leave imprints of their hands on their own backs.

As both girls broke their hugs, Somah, the dark skinned one took her time to inspect Sarah choice of outfit, "Enclave? Girl what the hell?"

"Bastard aliens took my armor, I had to do with what I had" Sarah said as she broke the hug and inspected Somah as well, "And look at you, still dress in those rags?"

"Screw you Lyons" yet the way Somah had say it meant it on a friendly way, but it was soon that the dark skinned woman noticed both Maverick and Sally, and the number of corpses, both human and alien on the ground.

"Damn…you got meaner in these two years" she said as she walked and inspected the corpses, "That wasn't us" Maverick muttered, staring at the corpses, "Someone…or something got here before us" he added.

"I say someone" Sally added, looking at Maverick, then at Sarah and finally to Somah, "I told you that there were four of those guys with the pip-boys…two of them are missing" she added.

"Vault dwellers?" At Sarah's nod, Somah cursed loudly, "Dammit, here too? And here I thought this place was nice" she said with a sneer.

"Not very fond of vault dwellers aren't ya" Maverick stated, "Damn right I'm not, bastards butchered my crew back in the wasteland…dammit we have found a place to stay, we had food, water and even shelter…then they came and killed everyone, I survived because a grenade went off near my room, blew my door away while I was on the other side, got banged up so badly they believed I was dead" Somah stated as she hefted her riot shotgun.

"When I woke up I found my men crucified…crucified dammit!" she exclaimed angrily, much to the surprise of Sarah, "Crucified? The dwellers have never done that" Sarah exclaimed.

"They don't Sarah, I didn't explain myself well…there were more people with them that day" Somah explained, "Who? Talon mercs, chem addicted raiders, Sigma squad, the dammed Gary fodder?" she wondered.

"I don't know exactly, what I know was that I didn't just encountered my men crucified, but I also found the heads of those damn vault dwellers mounted on pikes, and a damn gold bull painted on the entrance of my place" Somah stated, making Sarah frown at that.

"Odd" was all Sarah replied, as she turned to Maverick and Sally, "Oh…they are my companions on this crazy trip, Maverick, escapee of Vault 101 just days before it went to the Enclave" Somah narrowed her eyes at Maverick, but considering that one, he escaped Vault 101 before they went all sociopath on everyone mellowed the feeling of wanting to shoot him, and two, if Sarah trusted him, so she…to an extent.

"And Sally…a 200 year old savant woman trapped in the body of a ten year old girl" Sally pouted as she crossed her arms and looked at Sarah, "Well, I am eternally young, anyone's wish…but all comes with a price, mine being young forever, but like a small girl" she said, Somah just blinked at that, really not believing if Sarah was pulling her leg with that last one.

"Okay guys, she is Somah, you can say that she is pretty much the example of a reformed slaver" Somah just glared at Sarah, "I am a mechanic dammit, I never had slaves, or captured one" she snapped.

"You worked for them; it made you a slaver to the eyes of others" Sarah pointed out, "Anyway, Somah here is a survivor of an early attacks of the Enclave on the first days of the war, she worked for us while hiding of them for over three months before she walked away, saying that she wanted some peace and quiet…guess that didn't work well" Somah nodded.

"Yep, the attack I mentioned you was over a month ago, I wandered around for over two weeks before I got kidnapped by the small greens, they healed my wounds and then tossed me to a cell, they should have checked if I had something else besides my weapons, I killed the two guards that entered my cell just a day ago and been wandering ever since" she stated.

"Well, good to have you around Somah" Sarah said with a smile, one the dark skinned ex-slaver/mechanic mimicked.

"Okay guys, I guess we can't wallow here any longer, let's go to the labs and see what the hell the aliens did to Maverick" Sarah stated, making Somah raise an eyebrow, "You'll see" was all Sarah said as the group, now with one more on tow, followed Maverick who had the only functional map around and went to the labs near the cells.

_**Scientific area…**_

The mechanical door opened easily, allowing the four humans to walk inside, Sarah taking the point, Maverick and Sally right behind her and flanking each other and Somah bringing the rear.

"This place…is awfully quiet" Somah said in a murmur, "…Stay frosty, Charlie can be anywhere" was all Maverick said as he kept his hunting shotgun pointed at the general direction.

"Red Falcon down?" Sally asked, "Yep, unedited edition, I saw it on my twelfth birthday" Maverick muttered with a smirk at Sally, "The unedited edition? Damn you Maverick…my dad nearly went nuts trying to find that one" she said.

"Shut it you two" Sarah said, her eyes scanning the odd, plain circular room, devoid of any kind of lab equipment.

"This is odd…for a lab" Somah stated, "We are not inside the labs per se, this is a waiting area" Sally stated, looking at the ceiling, "Usually there are a dozen of turrets on the ceiling along with an energy barrier around, keeping dangerous specimens or numerous ones separated of the real laboratories" Sally said.

"Right now is turned off, good thing, let's keep going, that way" she added as she pointed at another door, that one was more heavy looking than the last one, once they reached the door, they found out that the door was locked.

"Dammit, now what?" Somah asked, Sally looked around, spotting something that made her day, "Leave it to me" she said as she walked to a wall, then tapped what seemed a light metal covering, "Maverick, would you be kind to rip this off?" Somah earlier question was answered when Maverick, bare handed an all, punched two holes on the edges of the thin metal sheet, and rip it open easily, she also noticed that the metal sheet was as thick as the plating of a Power Armor.

"…Screw me sideways…he just punched a hole on that?" she asked, disbelieve etched on her voice, "You think this is amazing? You didn't see what he did to an Overlord" Sarah mussed, making Somah stare at Sarah oddly, "Do I want to know?" Sarah shook her head, giving Somah her answer.

"Okay guys, give me two minutes" Sally said as she entered the now open ventilation shaft and disappeared from view.

Oddly it took Sally less than two minutes to open the door from the other side, once opened, the group quickly made their way inside, what they found inside was something that made Sarah easily blanch and to Maverick to grunt in sickness.

The laboratory, while filled with cutting edge technology that would make any scientist drool, was also filled with body parts, human body parts.

"God almighty, those aliens are really touched on their heads" Maverick said out loud, now fathoming the idea of seeing human body parts and organs inside what seemed preservation jars.

"…they do the same to their own" Somah muttered, pointing at what seemed a large tube filled with green liquid, inside floated what seemed to be one of the aliens, just this one was different, beside the fact this one had a bigger head than the one they met, and its skin was actually gray.

While the group looked around, Maverick approached the tube with the alien inside, softly laying his hand on the glass, "What kind of beings these aliens are to do this on one of their own?" Maverick wondered out loud.

"I really don't know Maverick, I really don't know" Sarah said, looking at the alien on the fluid.

With a sigh, the group moved away of the conserved alien, and truth to be told, only one of them knew what they should be looking for.

"Okay Sally, we are here on the labs, now how the hell are we suppose to figure out what the hell they did to Maverick if we don't even know what half of these things do?" Sarah asked, Sally just rolled her eyes.

"You think the aliens just make me eternally young?" Sarah simply nodded, "Well no" Sally, oddly enough looked offended by the assumption of Sarah, "They made me smart, very smart, a mistake they didn't repeated until they came across with Maverick, and I bet all his knowledge revolves on weapons, warfare, combat, how to fight, how to maim, how to basically be a war machine, and to learn even more about combat" Sally began.

"Me, on the other hand, they made my mind like a sponge, pre-war theorist said that humans only use the 10% of their brain in their lives, that leaves a 90% of their brains untouched, left to waste, well, the aliens made sure I could use my brain to the 100%, and even more so, I am like a sponge, I take knowledge too easily, I remember everything, and can apply that knowledge in very interesting ways" Sally said.

"Also I happened to learn their language, both written and talked, and how to work on their consoles, I just need to find a console around the lab and then I will be able to access maverick lab profile" Sally said, looking around, the little girl happened to find what she was looking for, what seemed a computer, or a keyboard attached to console of her height, but without a screen.

"How we are going to see anything, this doesn't has a screen" Somah wondered, sally simply smirked as she pressed a key, and to the eyes of the group, what seemed a holographic display appeared in front of them.

"Okay, that solves that issue" Somah stated, feeling right now like a fool.

"Now I just need to find the profile of Maverick" Sally mussed as she typed fast and in an almost possessed manner the keyboard in front of her, in less than a minute she had already found what she wanted, and cursed instantly.

"Oh damn it all to hell!" she exclaimed loudly, making her companions to stare at her, "His profile is highly classified, they never do that!" Sally snapped.

"Can you crack it?" Sarah asked, "That I can, but it will take me some time to do so, just cover me" she said as she began to work, her typing being the only thing that could be heard on the silent lab.

"Damn, look at her go, is like she is possessed, I bet even the scribes back in the citadel can't match her speed" Somah muttered to Sarah, "Yeah…I doubt Rothchild or Doctor Li can hope to match her"

"Okay done…eww, now I regret this" Sally said as she looked at the holographic display, and soon she knew that the other grimaced as well.

"Is that…me?" Maverick asked, "Yep…" Sally said, staring at what seemed a holographic display of Maverick, clad in only his boxers; there were words, or what seemed words below his image, while neither Maverick, Sarah nor Somah could understand it, Sally did.

"Zeta Subject? Why it says that?" Sally wondered out loud, "I don't like how it sounded that" Maverick said, "Neither do I, let me see why" she began to type even more, and soon a list of things began to appear, all linked by a single line on several parts of Maverick's body.

Tentatively Sally pressed her index finger on one of the boxes attached to the line on Maverick's holographic display, then her eyes widened when several procedures and names appeared in front of her.

"Carbide Ceramic Ossification, Muscular enhancement Injections, nano-machine bloodstream enrichment, Occipital Capillary Reversal, nano-fiber cord, Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites…god almighty, just one of those procedures is enough to kill a healthy person" Sally commented, making all to blink.

"Uh…Sally, we know crap of what you just said, put it in dumb terms" Sarah requested, "Okay, in dumb terms, all this combined is a formula for a super-soldier, a very mean one" Sally confessed, seeing that they hadn't truly grasped what she meant, she began to explain.

"This one for example, the muscular enhancement injection, basically is super powered anabolic steroids injected to the muscle tissue, increasing the tissue density and decreasing the lactase recovery time, in short words, muscles get tougher and get tired less, the downward however is that so far, every single person injected with this has suffered a very horrible cardiac volume increase, too much for a normal human heart to bear" she stated, slowly but surely her comments began to settle in.

"The nano-fiber cord is basically the most extreme so far, it involves opening the spine of the person, while removing the spinal cord and replacing it with a fiber that is filled with nano-machines, these nano-machines will increase the connection speed between brain and body and vice versa" she added, then sighed.

"I don't understand, of all the people subjected to each one of these, you have survived it all, hell I was put on one of these procedures, the Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites…and I bled from my ears for a week, yet you survived all the procedures, all that should have a 99% mortality rate…I just don't get it" Sally said as she looked at the screen, then cursed even more.

"For the love of God there is more!" she asked/snapped, typing even more she gasped in shock.

"Okay, the good news is that the only non-fatal procedure that Maverick was subjected to made his skin hard enough to take 10mm bullets point-blank and just leave an abrasions, the bad news is that they did the same to several vault dwellers"

"Say what?" Maverick asked, looking at Sally with concern, "Well, something similar, they tried to repeat the same procedure three times after your success in surviving…poor guys didn't made it pass the injection" Sally said, looking at Maverick for a minutes.

"After that the aliens began to use alternatives for the procedures, mostly drugs and cybernetic implants, as far as I can see here, you're the only one of all of them that kept most of him intact, your spinal cord and vertebrates being artificial, and the nano-bots on your bloodstream…god you can basically drug yourself with the strongest shit and you'll barely feel it" Sally mentioned.

"Okay, Maverick is a cyborg, well more human than machine, but a cyborg nonetheless"

"Sheez thanks Sarah that helps me greatly" Maverick snapped drily.

"And so it seems…how many vault dwellers are on board and subjected to this?" she asked, "From what I can see, counting Maverick and the other two dead guys, 21 vault dwellers, all mechanically and chemically enhanced" Sally said.

"Ugh, great, if we didn't had enough with their unnatural accuracy, now they are as strong as Maverick" Somah snapped.

"Make no mistake Somah, they will never be as strong as Maverick, his procedure was all about extremes, hell I'm surprised he survived, now you see the results, I doubt even the other vault dwellers can match him in strength, maybe they are as strong as a Super Mutant, if Sarah stories about them are led to be believed" Sally began.

"But I can safely say that they are not even close to Maverick in anything, yes some organs were replaced with mechanical counterparts, yes they are stronger than the average human, yes they are harder to kill now, and yes they are more machine than human thanks to the experiments of the aliens, but I can safely say that Maverick is far stronger than them, far deadlier, and the best is yet to come" Sally said with a small smirk.

"You see, the vault dwellers enhanced by this procedures have preset limits, they are strong now, but that's about it, they can't go beyond, Maverick procedure is all about learning to control them, to get use to them, as he gets more familiar with them…he will be far stronger than them, even more considering that they are already used to those enhancements from the start" Sally said.

"So…you're saying that while they are already familiar with their enhancements, they can't grow beyond that preset, but Maverick, who is yet to get use to them, can go beyond that?" Sally nodded as Sarah question.

"…Okay that does it, you're so going to help me bring down the Enclave, I doubt they have anything that can match you, at least anything organic and limited by our technology" Sarah said, making Maverick glare at her, "I'm no goddamn weapon"

"What Sally said says otherwise" Sarah said with a smirk.

"But…" Sally suddenly said, "It seems that beyond Maverick and the dwellers, there was a second person who got…an insane boost in strength an endurance" Sally said, "Apparently he got kidnapped at the same time as Maverick, and instead of using him as they did with Maverick, they gave him very experimental and dangerous drugs and enhancements, so experimental and dangerous that they didn't even considered on using it on you Maverick, not even by a longshot" she said, making all sober up.

"Is he…alive?" Maverick asked, "…Nah, apparently died, odd enough he seemed to have his entire face torn up even before they get to him, and was clad in…what seemed an armor, a gold one, with red cloth in it as well" she said, "Also he is tall, very tall, taller than the Overlord" that concept didn't made Sarah entirely comfortable, well at least he was dead.

"How he died?" Somah asked, "According to the notes, general failure, his lungs stopped working at the same time as his heart, his brain stopped sending signals to those two, no blood, no oxygen, no oxygenated blood, a recipe to disaster as my mom use to say" Sally said as she left the console.

"Until we don't see the corpse I won't believe shit" Somah stated, "Then you won't, they tossed his body to bio-disposal, by now he should be atomized" Sally stated, "Well Sally, here another rule of the wasteland, make sure it's dead, sometimes they just play dead…or are plain stubborn" Sarah said, directing her gaze to Maverick, "I get it Lyons, I get it" he said as he looked around, not noticing how something moved around.

"Okay, so now what?" he asked, "Well, from her we can go to several places, I would recommend the atrium, I lost track of myself there, we go there, then we turn right like I should have, help anyone who is not crazy"

"Or Enclave" Sarah pointed out, "Or Vault Dweller" Somah added, "Yeah, those two, we cause generalized mayhem, chaos, destruction, maybe let loose Maverick inside their quarters, hijack one of their ships, and escape, but before that we need to disable their external defenses, they have several turrets they use to blast rounding asteroids, and they can use those to shot down any spaceship that leaves the hangar without authorization" Sally said, raising an eyebrow when she swore she saw something move around.

"You're right, is the best we can do" Sarah said, fully convinced now that this team would pull the impossible.

**CLANG!**

Sarah and Somah immediately tensed up when several metallic objects around fell to the ground, the emptiness around made the sound even more tensing for both combat hardened woman, To Maverick and sally however, this was new.

"Okay, this is freaky" Sally said, looking around, Maverick doing the same, soon he caught something out of the corner of his eye, immediately he lifted his shotgun and fired, starling everyone on the room.

"The hell Maverick!" Sarah snapped, "I saw…a shimmering form…like…I don't know, like water ripples on the air" he said, keeping a sharp eye around, to Sarah, this description fit perfectly something she dreaded.

"Oh shit, Stealth Boys" she hissed, "What?" Maverick and Sally asked.

"Well, since you never let me finish before, The Tunnel Snakes, like the Femme Fatales have another unit on their own, for the Femmes they have the daughters of Hecate, their…elites, shock units to be more precise, and the snakes have the Stealth boys, who got their names of the devices that allows them to be…invisible" Sarah said, making Maverick frown.

"Are you saying that…"

**POW!**

Maverick head slightly shot to the left as the sound of footsteps echoed around, apparently their attacker no longer believed in stealth and opted in attacking, all while invisible, they knew he or she was there, question was were truly.

"I barely felt that" Maverick stated, looking around he was surprised yet again when another blow made him look to the right, and now he was getting piss.

"AHHH MY HAND YOU FREAKING WASTELANDER!"

And it seemed his enhancements had finally made their first contribution, besides the unnatural strength, also Maverick recognized the voice of the person who had sucker punched him two times.

"Wally Mack?" Maverick wondered out loud, "Someone you know?" Sarah asked, eyes darting all over the general area, "Yeah, one of the original Tunnel Snakes…also his dad is an asshole" Maverick said, soon he heard something of a hiss behind him, smirking he turned really fast, and slammed the butt of his shotgun on something, the fact everyone heard something being hit confirmed that Maverick had actually hit their invisible foe.

"AGGGHHH, Maverick you treacherous bastard!" they all heard, along with something hitting the ground, and gasps for air.

"As far as I can remember, I didn't betray the Vault, the Vault betrayed me…and it seems it also betrayed mankind" Maverick stated at the spot he could see a distortion of light, a distortion that suddenly grew a form and colors.

Then the form of a person of the age of Maverick was visible, the Vault Jumpsuit drenched in yellow and red blood, alongside the Caucasian features, his eyes and military haircut on his brown hair, and who can ignore the almost mad look on his eyes, or the fact he had Brass knuckles on both of his hands.

"Wally Mack…thought I saw the last of you alongside your father and mother; tell me, how does it feel to have a brother as sick as the Overseer?" Maverick asked as he hefted his shotgun to his shoulder.

"You…killed my brother!" Wally all but screamed as he launched himself to Maverick, only to recoil and fly to the left and land roughly on the ground, cheek burning in pain.

"Your brother was a sadist, and asshole, he killed Jonas, he had nothing to do with what had happened, yet he killed him on cold blood, he got what he deserved, I would have killed the Overseer too if it wasn't for Amata…for Amata" Maverick suddenly grew a scowl as he slung the shotgun to his back, advancing towards Wally, then lifting him up by the neck, making the Vault Dweller gasp in surprise and pain as his neck was constricted.

"I don't know why or how, truth to be told I don't care why Vault 101 would side with the Enclave, but I know for a fact that many people would oppose them, or just tell them that they would like to remain outside the conflict, Amata being one of them, she has never been keen for conflict, so you better start talking, what they did to Amata?" Maverick asked.

"Tsk, you think…I'm going to answer you?" Wally asked, "Yes, simply because is either me or Sarah behind me" Maverick said, Wally there noticed the Brotherhood soldier behind Maverick, and the scowl she carried.

"And if I heard correctly, she is eager to skin you alive for all you all have done" Maverick stated coldly, "besides, with me you at least know I will kill you fast and painless, so start talking!" Maverick snapped, Wally just sneered.

"You think you can make a difference here anyway Maverick? You're dead! Dead!" Wally snapped, a smirk on his face, "But I'll let you die with a thought in mind…Amata was quite disappointed she was unable to put a bullet on your impure ass" he said, neither Maverick or company noted how Wally reached for something behind him until they hear it.

**CLING!**

That sole sound made all tense, looking at the ground Sarah and Somah blood ran cold at the sight of a grenade pin.

"GRENADE!" Sarah bellowed, taking Sally away and using her body to cover Sally as she and Somah hit the deck.

"Shit!" reacting fast, Maverick suddenly tossed Wally like a rag-doll, Wally was clearly surprised when Maverick, instead of trying to use his own body to shield the others, had tossed him like nothing instead, rage and disbelieve came alongside fear as he saw the golden opportunity to erase the mistake of Vault 101 slip away.

"MAVERICK!" was the final words Wally Mack bellowed at the enhanced Vault Dweller before he got engulfed in a green light, then nothingness.

Maverick had covered his face when the green light and boom enveloped Wally's flying form, when he uncovered his face, he saw, much to his surprise, a green human skeleton that was wearing Wally's jumpsuit, and not far from it, a green pool of…goo like substance, not far behind, Wally's pip-boy.

"The hell happened here, grenades don't go boom and then pieces of people go fly around?" Maverick as he saw Sarah stand up alongside Sally and Somah, both of them staring at the mess.

"Yeah…but that's for standard frag grenades Maverick, that was a standard Enclave issue Plasma Grenade, healthy for the environment, for others no so much, basically it melts skin, muscle, boils organs and blood and then turns all that into a green goo like substance, clothes and other things remain the same, attached to the green skeleton, the only thing of the person, besides clothes and weapons that is not melted" Sarah said, walking towards Wally's skeleton, and picking his Pip-boy.

"You have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy handing this to Rothchild so it can crack all the info inside" she added as she walked to Maverick, noting how he stared at the remains of Wally.

"What he said…god what the hell happened while I was gone?" he wondered, "Don't know Maverick, I guess is something you will need to ask to Amata yourself…" Sarah began.

"But remember, all she has done, she will have to pay, trust me on that" she added, making maverick frown as he kneeled and picked Wally's skull.

"Yeah…maybe" he said as he looked at Sally, the little girl had already opened a door, something like an alien elevator, Somah at her side, "Sally says that elevator will take us directly to a cryogenic chamber near the atrium" Sarah stated at the kneeling Maverick.

"So…are you ready?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not" he confessed as he tossed Wally's skull over his shoulder, then standing up, "Then again, who is really ready for anything" he stated as he walked to the elevator.

"Amen" was all Sarah muttered as she joined the group on the elevator, and as the door closed, she wondered what would await them on the upper areas.

* * *

><p><em><strong>and there you have it people, another chapter done and gone, now I know many of you wonder what happened to the residents of Vault 101 to basiclaly turn evil, well in the next chapters that question will be answered, alongside many others, also some characters of both Fallout 3 and New vegas will show up, I know crazy, but that's how my AU stories run, crazy and without a way to predict what will happen.<strong>_

_**so until a next time readers, this is Three Dog...oh sorry, this is Hypn0s! signing off, review for caps!**_


	4. 3: Armada

_**Hello, Fanfiction, it is I, Hypn0s, bringing you another chapter for your little harts can take.**_

_**now seriously, I totally ripped that intro from Three dog, but anyway, I bring you, another chapter from my story, the chornicles of Maverick.**_

_**now, to those new, this story is completely AU, meaning the only thing that retains of Fallout 3, besides the main characters, the other characters, the setting and the final destination, is the fact the world is as messed as it was before.**_

_**Now this chapter will include new charcters, from both the Fallout 3 and new vegas, so those who haved played both games will recognize several characters there.**_

_**now, without any delay, i give you chapter 3, enjoy my friends.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 3: ARMADA<strong>

"It could do some music" Sally said, trying to strike a conversation with the group, "Yeah…it could…but yet again all the music I have ever heard was Vault 101 pre-recorded music…it got dull when I got my Pip-boy" Maverick said.

"…how was life back then there? I mean before all when down the drain" Somah asked to Maverick, "Well…it was good, true it got dull in some point, the routine I mean, when I got my Pip-boy, I also got my assignments there, like most kids I got waste disposal, let me tell ya, it was hell, good thing of that I wasn't alone, and also met the rest of the kids in Vault 101, it was there I noticed something" Maverick said.

"We were really low on numbers, I mean I spoke with my dad about it and he agreed, there was just too little children per couples, and then he came with some information that I don't know how he got it in the first place…when the Vault was closed in 2077, there was over 500 children, and 525 adults, right now we had only 99 children that grew up, and 200 adults, if that carried on…well" he said, letting the message sink in.

"They wouldn't last another generation" Sarah said.

"Exactly…maybe that's why they are now with the Enclave I guess…to get people…or children into the vault once this is all over" Maverick said.

"That's just crazy! Why they would do that, they have a whole world for themselves, and they want that?" Somah wondered.

"I can only assume that" Maverick said, "Maybe…maybe there is more Maverick, the Enclave and the vault dwellers, you included, are the last remnants of the pre-war civilization…okay Sally included" so said girl nodded back, "Because of this, your gene pool is…far less mutated than of any wastelander, a sixth toe, skin mutations, baldness, blindness, things that happened less in Sally's time, happen a lot here, our DNA is so mutated that a lot can happen" Sarah added, "That's what they meant with 'the pure race' and all that crap"

"Go figure, another war started by 'who is the superior race' thing, how pathetic" Maverick muttered, leaning on the all of the elevator with a scowl etched on his face.

"In any case now you know why we fight, is do or die down there, and the Enclave is not the kind to take prisoners…unless they serve a higher purpose for them" Sarah said.

"But no matter how technologically advanced they are, the Enclave lacks numbers…numbers they swelled with mercenaries, better said Talon Company" Sarah began, "Think of them as…very depraved Vault dwellers, they do anything, anything for caps" Somah ended.

"Caps?" Maverick and Sally asked at the same time, "Yeah, pre-war currency is basically nun, it works well to burn and keep things burning, believe it or not, the night on the Capital Wasteland is quite cold, so caps became our way of currency, is far more lighter to carry, a little noisy, but is more common than bills and other things" Sarah confessed.

"Oh great, 200 years ago people died for pieces of green paper, now 200 years later, we kill each other for bottlecaps, swell" Maverick said sarcastically.

"Trust me Maverick" Sally suddenly said, eyes going dark, "Things were worse days after the bombs fell" Sally began, "I know…I saw things on those days…the worse of humanity came on those days" she added, "But at least now is not as bad as 200 years ago" she added.

"Regardless" Sarah stated, looking at Sally, "We have to focus on our current task, I'm not going to remain here to wait and see if the aliens will be kind enough to experiment with me the same way they did with Maverick" Sarah stated.

Maverick simply gave a stare at Sarah, but said nothing, he was still thoughtful on all that had happened, and so was another person, "Hey Lyons" Somah began, "Didn't you find something odd about that Wally guy? The way he was cloaked?" she asked, making the sentinel frown.

"Now that you mention it, he wasn't wearing a stealth boy on his wrist…maybe the experiments on him gave him…natural ability to cloak himself like if he was wearing a stealth boy" Sarah pointed out, Maverick and Sally simply shrugged at that, currently any other ability a Vault dweller might have, ranging from inhuman strength to inhuman endurance and other odd things could be attributed to alien experiments.

"We are almost there" Sally stated, the whole group then tensed up as the elevator stopped, looking at each other, then at sally, and nodding, the little girl pressed a button to open the door, immediately Maverick exited the elevator…

**POW!**

And was received by a power fist right on his face.

"OH for the love of God!" Maverick snapped as he turned his attention to the source of the blow, and stopped when he spotted the source.

The girl who hit him was perhaps of Somah's age, maybe a little less, Caucasian features, he couldn't see beyond that because of her green robes and the hood that she had over her head, of course he noted that she had a pneumatic fist on her right hand, and of course she looked somewhat ashamed of what she did, somewhat.

"Oh…sorry about that, I thought you were one of those ugly alien ghouls…not that you look like one!" she stated, trying to defuse the look Maverick was giving her, "I mean things have got a lot crazy around her, and truth to be told I'm not exactly in position to mince with blows, especially those against the midgets around here, true they have very advanced technology but that doesn't give them the right to walk over us…god if the elders hear me talk like that they will beat me with my own power fist" she said.

"Anyway, I'm Veronica, Veronica Santangelo" the newly introduced Veronica said, extending her power fist hand to Maverick, he simply rose an eyebrow, but let go of his sudden urge to punch her simply because she didn't deserve it, the way he exited the elevator made her believe he was one of the abominations.

Grasping her armored hand, Maverick began to wonder how many people had been kidnapped by the aliens, if Sally said about them being in a space station was true, and considering that they had been abducting people even before the bombs fell, then it meant that the place was crawling with people who was desperate to escape.

"Okay, you got abducted as well it seems" Maverick mentioned, "Duh! I didn't hitch a ride here on their spaceship…come to think of it I actually did, pretty stupid of me I believe" Veronica said, leaving the other blinking, "Come again?" Maverick asked.

"Well…is kinda embarrassing you see, I was wandering around, scavenging, when all of the sudden I nearly had my face melted by a blue beam of energy, I mean blue energy beams, no laser weapons know could fire that, when I turned around to the source I saw small green guys actually taking pot shots at me, I swear they were laughing while at it" Veronica mentioned the last part with a pout.

"Then again they weren't laughing much with their jaws and skulls broken after I got them" she added quickly while flexing her armored hand.

"In any case, once I looted their bodies, which I might add had some sweet things, I looked a little far, and saw a freaking, honest to god spaceship, there, floating near a mountain, so thinking it had even better things inside and that was my lucky day, I went to it, I must tell ya it took me some time to scale the mountain and reach the ship, when I entered…well the damn thing activated on its own…and here I am, after sneaking pass several alien patrols…I must say this place is like a Cazador hive, they are pissed" Veronica said.

"Can't say is our fault…we haven't come across many alien patrols, and those we have cross have ended up dead, not being able to communicate something" Sarah said.

"Well…yeah, I mean when the ship got to the hangar I saw a they were setting ships…a lot of them, placing weapons inside, I think medical items, food, all that sort of things for…an invasion" Veronica said, making Sally gasp.

"Guess they finally grew tired of abducting people one at a time and now are preparing a large scale…abduction/invasion" she stated.

"But why they experiment on us? What they gain?" Somah wondered out loud, "I don't know, but I don't think I want to find out, if by some reason the aliens got defeated and the Enclave get their hands on their technology…god help us all" Sarah stated grimly.

"Sheez have some positive attitude Sarah, first let's focus on finding the hangar and a ship that can get us out, then we can focus in blowing this space station to dust okay?" Sarah nodded with some apprehension at Maverick reasoning, not that she could argue with him on that either, right now they were a group of humans trying to escape, a group of barely five people, barely a match against an advanced alien race that in that moment outnumbered them, regardless the fact that two of them were in fact genetically and surgically enhanced humans.

"Well, if you want to go to the hangars, you'll need to take the long road, I might not be too familiar with alien tech and computers, but I do recognize an automatic lock when I heard one, it seems that they have the hangars doors programmed to lock when something not of their species cross them, trust me I tried to open them with every trick I knew, but so far no dice" Veronica stated.

"I doubt I will break them as well, those doors programming is directly attached to the space station mainframe, I would need to be in the mainframe room to actually hack them successfully, unlike the other consoles, sorry" Sally offered, making all that knew her to grimace at that tidbit of information.

"Better you says us that now than before Sally" Maverick offered with a slight smile, slightly looking around the atrium they were currently located, to him it looked like an exact replica of a vault's atrium, the one the Overseer could overlook of course from his office.

The difference from the vault's atrium to the current one was of course the cleaner and shinier look, there were only five doors, three on the lower level, the one they were currently, and other two on the upper level, no windows to see the outside world or any other rooms, and unlike the vault's atrium this one is well lighted currently.

"This place" Maverick began, "It reminds me of Vault 101 atrium" that phrase caught Sarah's attention, "It's nearly identical in appearance, only shinier, and with less doors…and the overseer ever-present window and face looking us down like if we were test subjects" Maverick said.

"Hey, you're a vault dweller?" Veronica asked with some excitement, "Yeah…why?" Maverick answered her question, "Well…truth to be told you don't look like one, or dress or act as one, in fact if it wasn't for the pip-boy attached to your wrist I would say you are an average wastelander" she added, only to hear a snort of Somah.

"Average my ass girl, trust me when I tell you this kid is far from normal" the dark skinned mechanist said as she hefted her riot shotgun and looked around.

"Okay…ignoring that…what now?" Veronica asked, "Well…the original plan will have to be changed a little, if we are to stop an invasion and escape, we are going to need men, and guns, big guns that make a mess to be more specific" Sarah said, experience told her that this kind of situations required men with experience on combat, of course experience is worth little without the proper equipment.

"Hmm…Maverick give me your arm" Sally commanded, the enhanced vault dweller complied, not really caring the little girl was bossing him around, it didn't surprise him as much as Veronica as Sally expertly worked her way on the pip-boy's many functions, and stopped on the map function.

"Okay…we are here…the storage room is nearby, but we still need to trek a long mile anyway to reach our destination, the elevator didn't took us to the cryo-chambers as I believed, we need to make our way towards the engine core, from there we can take a direct route to the hangar, and then to freedom" Sally said confidently.

"SO…what is in storage that can be important?" Veronica wondered.

"Simple, guns, armors, food, stimpaks, pretty much everything you need of down under is in storage, including ammo for every gun, with me and Maverick's expertise we can cook something really nasty to those aliens, you still haven't tested That Gun right?" Maverick shook his head at her question, "Well, better time than the present, from here on out only energy weapons work better against aliens, I know, I just know that they will be looking for us, so you better draw That Gun and be ready to shoot" sally added as she pulled her own Plasma Gun.

With a grimace, and understanding what pretty much Sally had implied, Maverick turned to veronica and tossed his shotgun at her, the girl clumsily grabbed the gun and some shells for it as well.

"You know how to shoot right?" Maverick asked to the robed girl, "Well, I'm more into girls and punching the shit out of everything that attacks me…but I'll think I'll manage, believe it or not, the Brotherhood does teach us how to use projectile based guns, despite their fetish for energy weapons" that comment of Veronica as she slung the shotgun to her back, favoring her power fist as she admitted, caught the attention of Sarah.

"You are Brotherhood?" Veronica nodded as at Sarah's question, "What chapter?" Sarah asked, "Mojave's chapter…I was original of California, Lost Hills bunker, home sweet home" Veronica said, "But as usual with the Brotherhood, once they get a sniff of pre-technological wonders, they go at it like ravenous dogs" Veronica added.

"Not that I can say no to that statement…so Mojave eh…you're far away of home Santangelo" Sarah said to the robed girl, "Yeah…say…how was called the movement leaded by High Elder Maxson to Lost Hills?" Veronica asked simply.

"Easy, the exodus" Sarah answered without losing a beat, and then she realized what she had said, much to the amusement of Veronica.

"So…why you're dressed as Enclave?" Veronica asked with a smirk, "It was that or going naked" Sarah replied with some hesitation, "I wouldn't mind" Maverick mentioned with a smile, "Me neither" Veronica added playfully as she joined Maverick and followed him and Sally to the only door on the lower level of the atrium that wasn't locked or was an elevator door.

"Go Sarah, you sly dog you" Somah said with a smirk, "Oh shut up Somah, just my luck I was being hit by a enhanced boy who can rip spines with his bare hands and a lesbian, I am so freaking lucky" Sarah said with some apprehension, is not that she hates lesbians or homosexuals and actually respects their choices.

But the fact a lesbian was actually hitting on her kinda said that her luck on love is on a new time low, well at least she got hit as well by Maverick, it has to count as something positive.

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><p>"Hey sergeant, you think their gone?"<p>

"I don't know Tercorien, but I'm as sure as hell I'm not poking my head up to find out"

"But Sergeant Johnson, sir…I think someone should scout out"

"Are you crazy woman? Better yet don't answer that, I don't want to know the state of your mind"

"Sergeant! Maria is not crazy…curious yes, crazy no"

A pile of robots, twisted metal, trash, a pair of Nuka-Cola dispensers, the bottom half of a jukebox and what seemed the door of a car were the only shield three soldiers had of the very accurate alien turrets that kept aiming at them from several positions on the ceiling, but were unable to get an accurate shot.

"Sergeant, I'm only saying that one of us should make a break for it while the others shoot the hell out of those turrets, that way we might have a better chance at surviving" a woman of at least her late twenties stated, her short red hair made her green eyes stand out the most, those features, alongside her pale skin made her stand out, even more with her white combat armor.

Private Maria Gonzales, of the 102th US infantry battalion, deployed to Anchorage, Alaska, and from which she was the only know survivor after an ambush of Chinese commandos, really wondered why the man who was higher on rank didn't not hear reason, after all her plan was far better than his, sitting and waiting for a miracle.

"Sergeant Johnson, Maria is right, we cannot stay here no longer, sooner or later one of those aliens will come, and us pinned down like this and then ambushed by mobile troops will make it worse" Elliot Tercorien, of the medical corp attached to the 108th infantry battalion stated at the man at his side, while Elliot had blond hair that was longer than the military regulation, mostly because he was drafted on the hospital he was working on, trained scarcely on guns, given an armor and the last words every drill sergeant told them on their crash course on the army.

"_Duck, run, and if you see something not American, you shoot it"_

"Corporal, did your nap on that fancy freezer damage your brain? Private here cannot run that fast to dodge the blasts and I must remind you the last time we tried that?" Sergeant Avery Johnson, a tall, dark skinned man, with a moustache and white cap, stated with a scowl.

"Must remind you what happened to Gomez?" the sergeant added, making both Maria and Elliot to wince, obviously remembering the now late private Gomes, of the 111th infantry battalion, a sniper, not that it helped much, they had tried the strategy Maria proposed, Gomez had run while the trio left behind unleashed hell on the turrets above them drawing fire, what they didn't counted however was the fact that one of those robots with long arms was on the corner Gomez had turned, nor the fact the hands of the robot worked as buzz saws, the last thing they saw of Gomes was an arm flying away and a lot of blood pouring out.

And unlike Maria, Gomez was fast enough to outmaneuver the turrets; the three remaining soldiers however weren't fast.

"Goddamitt to hell!" Elliot snapped angrily, running his hand over his blond hair, he hated the situation they were in, it was like being on the trenches back in anchorage, back then at least the Chinese were bombarding even their own people, they were blind as bats, but here, things were bad, very bad.

**ZWOOMP!**

"Guys…did you heard that?" Maria said, making Sergeant Johnson and Elliot to look up at her, then perk up when they heard footsteps…human like footsteps, not the frantic and squeaky like footsteps of the aliens boots.

"HOLY SHIT!" and the male scream confirmed it, it seemed whoever entered the storage room had came across Gomez's corpse.

"Oh dammit, sadistic ali-MAVERICK!"

"Wha SHIT!"

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

The unmistakable sound of a shotgun was heard at least two times, alongside the sound of energy weaponry, laser weaponry, then the sound of metal being bended…twice, then silence.

"…are…they dead?" Maria asked.

Her answer came when they heard the sound of keys being pressed, fast, then the sudden implosion of every single turret in the room.

"Okay, that should do it" the voice of a small girl was heard suddenly; the trio of soldiers looked at each other, and then nodded.

"Well…good things happen to those who wait, let it be a lesson to you two" sergeant Johnson said with a grin, both Elliot and Maria sighed, in the little time they had come and tagged alongside the sergeant, they have learned that he is a very religious man, having a strong faith in God, most importantly in the phrase 'the lord works in mysterious ways'

One had to really wonder what kind of role God had in actually letting them be kidnapped by small green men.

In any case, sergeant brought the front to meet the people who had helped them out, so it was understandable to the trio to see in shock what seemed a man clad in one of their armors, one of their own people, nearly surrounded by women, and a little girl.

But the thought of finding another fellow soldier died out when they saw he had a wrist computer on his left wrist…a pip-boy.

That alone confirmed their worst fears.

"Oh god no" they heard sergeant Johnson exclaim in worry, hastily making his way towards the group of people that had saved them, there Maria and Elliot noted that the man who wore the combat armor and the pip-boy had a neat tri-long gash on the armor, one that without a doubt came of the robot, surely the man had been attacked and by some miracle had survived without a cut on his skin, but his armor was not that lucky, at simple glance the armor was all but useless now, there was simply not enough wonderglue on the world to keep that thing in one piece, and they doubted another chest-plate could help in fixing the one damaged, for once the chest-plate was neatly cut, including the inner components, the Kevlar like covering that composed the cloth of the armor was compromised as well, so there was no way that thing could be fixed.

"No…please tell me is not true!" the voice of sergeant Johnson brought Maria and Elliot back into the present, rushing to their sergeant they saw him clutching the shoulder of a blond woman in a strange uniform they didn't recognize at all, she looked grimly, like the rest of the group at the man.

Slowly, the woman shook her head sadly, "It happened" was all she said, those words were enough to break the man that was John Johnson, with a pitiful wail, he collapsed on his knees and began to weep, all while banging on the floor.

"You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

_**30 minutes later…**_

"So…the world down there…is gone?" Elliot asked with some apprehension, "Yeah kid, not much of the old world besides ruins and skeletons, both literal, the place is bad as it gets" Somah replied, looking at the blond medic with some surprise, to be a medic who wield a weapon, he is all but tough, or cold, nothing in the Capital Wasteland compared to him.

"But the days after the bombs fell it as worse…people sick, people crying, fighting, all the fire, the screams, then came the rains…the black rain, even more people died when the rain fell" Sally said sadly.

Sarah simply kept a vigil around, the three soldiers, Maria, Elliot and Johnson, where in fact soldiers of the Anchorage reclamation campaign, people as old, if not older than Sally, well if being kept on ice for over 200 years counted.

Apparently, if John (after recovering) said was true, he was taken first by the aliens to be experimented, but the aliens never checked him to see if he had hidden weapons, and like Somah and her, he just waited, unlike her and Somah, he is a trained killer, the little bastards never stood a chance when he broke out and slit their throat with a knife he had hidden on his right boot, the proceeded to release the few soldiers that were left, which turned to be Maria and Elliot, according to them, they were kidnapped with their units, in Johnson's and Elliot's case, Maria was the only survivor of her original unit, and was attached to another unit, which turned to be kidnapped as well.

What made their story amazing was the fact that they were put on cryo-stasis, simply said, they were put on human size refrigerators and frozen solid, now usually this procedure if done on humans will kill them, as the water inside their molecules with turn sharp and cut the cells, causing frostbites and the tissue to die, which leads, if not well treated into amputation of the affected area.

The difference with cryo-stasis is the fact that while the body is frozen, it is done in such a way that it only slows every single vital function on the body, like if you were sleeping, or hibernating with some animal cases, thus allowing an extended stay on the cryo-tubes.

This was their case, the good one, Johnson had also told them that he had opened seven cryo-pods, but only Elliot, Maria and the deceased Gomez had awoken, the others didn't had such luck, they died because they thawed wrong.

After that explanation, Johnson had basically demanded what had been the fate of Washington DC, the news he got basically broke him.

According to Sarah, and what little Maverick could see from the scenic overlook back when he exited Vault 101, there was just ruins of the once 'capital of the world' Washington, once the seat of Capitalism and Democracy, was less than a hush of its former self, several bombs did fell on the Capital city, one aimed at the White House, that area was still highly radioactive, but those bombs that exploited in mid-air caused most damaged, as several broken buildings and blocked streets could attest to.

Of the many survivors of the initial attack, many turned into Ghouls, heavily irradiated humans who by some fortune, or misfortune, didn't ended up dead, but rather had their skin slowly rotting out of their bodies, leaving patches of muscle and veins exposed to the elements, raspy voice, loss of hair and sterility among the most noticeable changes on ghouls, others changes were the fact that they didn't get sick by radiation, they actually get healed by it, but this accelerates a process that most ghouls fear, their slow descent to a feral like state in which they don't distinguish friend from foe, well human friend or foe, and they don't regard any kind of danger around them, the feral ghouls, in short, are zombies, fast, ugly, emaciated zombies.

Of course there were those who even without the protection of the vaults, managed to survive, tribal clans who moved of other places of the US map to the remains of the capital, vault dwellers, who unlike those in Vault 101, left their vaults and tried to make the best they could out of the ruins of DC, raiders who had kids, kids who ran away, families of all corners of the map, all moving to DC because, relatively speaking, while being the capital of one of the most powerful nations of the pre-war era, was not as badly hit as other parts of the nation, or the world for that matter.

Sarah sighed as she relay all she knew about the current situation of the Capital Wasteland, as those who lived in it now call it, about the war, the Enclave, the Super Mutants, all that has been happening, she told them and updated them of the current situation, obviously they were clearly shocked, but not more than Johnson, who unlike Maria and Elliot, was married by the time of the war, with two children no less, so it was obvious he was distressed by what happened and the possible end they all had.

It was not something they could all dwell deeply however, even if the pre-war world was governed by crazy fools who basically burned the world, they still were prisoners, and needed to escape, something the three soldiers agreed.

"(Sigh) god in heavens, why you let it happen" Johnson wondered out loud, running a hand on his face, "Sergeant, this was not by God's hand, it was our fault…we are all to blame" Maria said as she hefted her assault rifle.

"I know private…but yet it hurts, it hurts so much" Johnson stated, looking around at each member of this ragtag escape group.

With another heavy sigh, he stood up, yet with some apprehension, he was not so sure of wanting to keep on fighting, with the reason he had to fight now gone and turned to dust and burned in radioactive fire.

"There is nothing we can do now" Maverick added, looking at the sergeant straight in the eye, "Trust me on this sergeant, we all have regrets, yours involve your family, like mine…the only thing we can do is move forward…and when the time comes we have to give accounts to the big boss, to be sure we have no regrets behind us" he said, looking around suddenly, then raising his eyebrow.

"Odd…this place doesn't look like a storage room" Maverick stated, trying to keep the pieces of his armor together, now really missing his other gun, the alien rifle, that sadly had met an early demise at the hands of the robot who got a mouthful of blamite on its face, twice.

"This is just the outer room, here the aliens carry either weapons or miscellaneous items that can actually be carried by them and put them on that transport line" Sally said, pointing to a far transportation line that was currently off, connected to a door from which Sally's frame could fit in fine.

"The other room however contains what we need, I really doubt there are aliens inside currently, if something I learned of them is that they are creatures of habit, they work on a schedule, currently they are on their resting time, we have at least a day to arm ourselves and advance as much as possible without some serious opposition, after the day is done, they'll resume normal activities, maintenance, experimentation, security, from there on out, is shoot at everything not human" Sally stated firmly.

"I'm up game for that plan, although I would find myself more comfortable if we do this quietly" Somah said, "Agreed, the less conflict the less chance we will find opposition" Elliot added.

"But if push comes to shove" Sergeant Johnson replied, loading his assault rifle to make his point, "Right, I just hope we find a power armor, I feel naked with this on" Sarah added as she and Somah went to the entrance of the adjacent room, followed closely by Maria, Elliot and Veronica, Sally as usual stayed close to Maverick, that left sergeant Johnson behind as well.

"Maverick…right?" he asked, the former vault dweller simply nodded, "…Thanks for the heads-up kid" was all Johnson said as he jogged to join the group.

Maverick simply looked at Sally who shrugged at him, then motioned him to follow her and join the rest.

As both experimented humans caught with the rest, he wondered what would happen now, especially with the other vault dwellers kidnapped by the aliens, after all there were twenty kidnapped dwellers, not including him, three of them were already dead, that left seventeen more.

He also toyed with the possibility of his dad being among those kidnapped, after all his dad escaped with just two hours separating them, maybe he got kidnapped as well, and experimented.

Maverick really hoped his dad didn't went mad with the experiments, or was killed by so said experiments, or his escape of vault 101, and the reason he left in the first place will be carried to the grave with him.

* * *

><p>The smell of trash, it was familiar to him, oddly familiar, the smell of rotten organic junk was something akin to the one of rotting corpses, of blood spilled and burned flesh as well, he knew well enough about that.<p>

The last thing he remembered was the blue light, right before he killed that NCR spy who got lucky to escape the camp, only to be caught by him, and when he was just about to deliver the killing blow, he was shrouded in a blue light; it was beautiful, yet frightening.

Then he remembered the pain, the pain of such…things done to him, he was still conscious, so he remembers very well the pain of each one of the interventions done to him, each painful one.

But he still tries to remember why he is on a place that smells as rotting humans and blood.

His answer came when he opened his eyes and was able to stare all around him, there he could see the reason of the smell, it was not because he was on some sort of trash like area, but he was surrounded by human bodies, mutilated and mangled, and he was on some sort of arena, and those…beings observing him on the high stands, like if he was some sort of animal to entertain them.

He was about to lash at them when he felt something on the back of his neck, like a sting of something, like a tick bite, bothersome, but unlike a tick bite, this one grew in pain with every passing second, spreading of his neck to his head.

Screaming in pain, Legate Lanius, second in command of Caesar Legion, and army who has nearly conquered half of North-America knew no more as his brain was basically stripped of every single memory of his former life, leaving only combat memories and a loyalty to his new masters.

Up in the atrium like state, an alien with orange skin, instead of green smirked in satisfaction, now one step closer of their goal.

With this tested, they could focus on their prime subject, subject Zeta.

His grin died, however, when one of his subordinates mentioned something.

The subjects in red clothes had escaped.

* * *

><p>"Well…this place shows promise" Somah muttered to Veronica, the Brotherhood wandering scribe nodding at the sight, such a beautiful sight, for a brotherhood member at least.<p>

"…whoa…look at all that weaponry" Sarah muttered in awe, to her this was the mother lode of…well everything, weapons, ammo, whenever she looked she found more weapons and ammo, some weapons she never saw in her life, some of them she had heard about, as the German gauss handgun, a heavy recoil gauss based handgun that could pass as .44 magnum if it wasn't for the magnet coils around its barrel, and unlike Maverick's homemade and modified That Gun, that one looked that could actually do some damage.

She kept looking around, and the gasped in shock when she saw IT, the most beautiful thing ever.

"A T51-b" she muttered in reverence, the Capital Wasteland chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel was in disadvantage for several reasons, most of them related to manpower, but what stung the most was the fact that most, if not all the power armors they wear are actually the outdated T45-d models, the first viable power armor ever made, used by soldiers during the Sino-American war, then later replaced by the more advanced T51-b, any soldier, well trained in heavy weapons and in the proper use and abuse of the T51-b, could in theory raise a town to the ground, killing all its inhabitants and the wearer of the armor would be safe.

The one Sarah was staring at was no different from any T51-b she had seen before back in Lost Hills Bunker…well, with some notable changes of course.

This particular power armor was in fact an old T51-b that was held in stasis back on the Capital wasteland, then found by a ghoul who was obsessed by it, sadly he found the armor, and the Enclave, the guys killed the ghoul without remorse before he could take the armor, after that the soldiers took the armor to an outpost near, where scientist, giddy with the idea of working with a real T51-b, began to add several Enclave upgrades, one of them was the tesla coils attached to the shoulder pads of the armor for once, also the back and the front of the armor was bulkier, surely to house a device that enhances the tesla coils effects, she could also see that the armor plates on some areas were bulkier, like if reinforced, also the color was changed, the armor once was green olive, with some rust in it, now it was completely pitch black, and the armor was lacking the helmet, not that Sarah cared, she had worked with power armors without helmets ever since she could wear one.

Walking slowly, Sarah approached the armor, and when she got close enough, she reached for the armor, sighing at the feeling of metal on her hands, regardless if they were gloved, she then noticed something, and traced her finger on six letters written on the armor.

"ATHENA" she said with a smile, remembering that the name itself is the one of a goddess of long before the war that consumed the world, a Greek Goddess, goddess of wisdom and war.

It seemed to fit the armor perfectly, and so her.

"I found something I liked, I liked very much" she called out loud, only gaining the attention of Maverick who was already at her side, looking at the armor with some interest, "ATHENA…oddly fitting" he stated, then looked at Sarah, "Well, your wish came true, put it on" he said as he turned around, making her sigh.

"Veronica, can you help me with this?" Sarah called to the brotherhood wandering scribe, the girl eagerly went to Sarah, and upon laying sights on the power armor, nodded at Sarah, knowing what she wanted her to do.

No one noticed the two girls leaving, pretty much considering that they were focused on other things as well.

"God, I doubted on some things after learning the destruction of my world, my life…but now I know, you have a plan for me, and you want me to carry it out"

"Just pick the damn minigun sergeant, no one wants it" Maria snapped, eyeing at her sergeant with some apprehension, it seemed he was well, or as well one can be after learning that all one hold dear was destroyed in atomic fire.

With a smirk the dark skinned soldier picked the gun, checking it if had any damage or defect, seeing none, he reached for what seemed a metal backpack, strapping the metal backpack to his back, he then picked the minigun, noticing the feeder attached to the minigun and the backpack.

"Found a new best friend huh?" Maria said with a small smile, Sergeant Johnson just smiled grimly, "God has a plan for all of us…mine in particular consists of turning aliens into pitiful fleshsacks with this" he said with a smirk, hefting the minigun.

Maria just sighed, looking around to see if someone had not became slightly crazy with all the weapons and ammo around.

She saw Elliot actually with a bag, picking several stimpaks and what seemed alien gel held on a tube, he looked like a person browsing items on a supermarket, only in this one you don't have to pay nothing at all.

"Okay Sally, keep it together, we need to connect the coils to the barrel" Maria rose an eyebrow, seeing how Maverick and Sally worked on what seemed a Gauss Rifle, she had seen plenty of those back in Anchorage, used by power armored soldiers wearing T51-b, the back draw of such rifles was that, while it had quite a punch, they required a MF cell to power the round, unlike their German counterpart, which came along with both ammo and energy to supply the shots.

What she was seeing however, made her think otherwise, Sally so far has shown to be smart…too smart, Maverick on the other hand, he was inventive, way inventive, now pair them both, along with several broken Gauss rifles that they just found in the storage room, add enough ammo around them…

"What are you two doing?" Maria asked to the duo, "I got an idea about these rifles" Maverick began, basically, much to Maria's shock and disbelieve, he simply grabbed one of the rifles by the barrel and the stock, and with a single yank, tore it apart, exposing several hi-tech gadgets inside, gadgets and gizmos that Sally took and began to use or discard to their new weapon.

"…and what exactly are you doing…besides tearing several Gauss rifles that belong to the US army to create a Frankenstein like weapon?" she wondered.

"You say it like if it was a bad thing" Sally replied, "Because it is" the voice of Sarah made both experimented humans to turn around, then to raise an eyebrow at Sarah's new look.

Clad in a black power armor that greatly resembled a T51-b model, but with tesla coils on the shoulders and cables, and arms crossed, looked sternly at the duo, like a mother reprimanding her children, which could be close to the truth, considering how Maverick was a child at heart.

"Well...I'm waiting" Sarah said, "Waiting for what?" Maverick asked, "For what he asks? The reason you tore three perfectly reparable and serviceable gauss rifles that we could have used against the aliens and I could have used after leaving this hellish place against the Enclave, Gauss rifles are our best bet against those bastards, even more against the Hellfire units" Sarah snapped.

"Well excuse me Lyons, but the current ones we had are inefficient against the aliens, fast moving aliens" Maverick stated, "Explain" oddly it was Veronica, not Sarah who asked that.

"Well, I saw these rifles use a full MF cell per shot, every time shot, you need to replace the spend cell and add a new one, that reload time is fatal if the aliens get too close" Maverick said to Sarah and Veronica.

"Which is why we decided to make some sort of a nasty surprise against the aliens, and the Enclave and the Vault dwellers if they come across Maverick" Sally added.

"We are making a full rifle, semi-automatic one that uses alien power cells, which are by far more advanced in energy than a MF cell" Sally said, "In theory it would act as a normal semi-automatic assault rifle, instead of a three burst round, it would shoot a super charged rifle round, fast enough to punch a hole in anything, that includes power armors and your current armor, the ATHENA" Maverick added, making Sarah sigh in annoyance.

"This weapon whoever will take some time for us to finish, we found a lot of things here we can add to this weapon, so if you want you can explore this place and stock better for what we will do" Maverick stated, "More time for preparation eh? I'm all for it, I found some sort of biogel that I can adapt for human use" Elliot spoke, making Sarah more annoyed than before.

"I guess, I mean if these guys have a lot of things form the past, maybe they have another kind of power fists, maybe a displacer glove, I heard they were quite popular with some close quarter units of the army" Veronica said.

"You mean the bulls right?" sergeant Johnson said with a fond smile, "Oh yeah, those guys could actually punch a Chinese commando in the face so hard their heads were ripped cleanly of their necks, some of the soldiers joked that their heads would end back in China" he added.

"Enough!" Sarah snapped, "I don't give a damn if your boys ripped the Chinese and used their intestines as jump ropes nor the fact you want to make an adaptive biogel" Sarah snapped, then looking at Maverick.

"I must remind you Maverick; we are running on a tight schedule, as we speak the Capital Wasteland could be on the brink of being controlled by the Enclave, if hasn't been done already, I don't want to return to Earth and find out all I held and love was erased by the Enclave and your Vault dweller friends" Sarah snapped, taking an involuntary step back when Maverick stood up and faced her, now remembering of all moments of what he could do to her, with or without a power armor on.

"I know perfectly well Sarah, my dad could be down there as we speak, prisoner or worse, hell Sarah, he could be one of the twenty dwellers kidnapped by the aliens and experimented, he left before, two hours separating us of each other" Maverick snapped, "So don't tell me about time dammit, I know very well about this, but I want first to find out if he is here, if he is, I got to make sure and ask why he left, obviously he didn't want me to join him outside, thinking the vault was a safer place, hell I got a message of him out of the corpse of his best friend, I know he didn't want me out of the vault, but I want answers Sarah, I just want them" Maverick replied.

Sarah by her part remained stoic, then sighed, "…Okay Maverick…I'm sorry again, is just that all this wait is killing me, true I found some sweet things here, things no one else will find, but you must realize this, I was on a war before I got kidnapped, I'm worried, my dad is there as well, he is the leader of the brotherhood in the Capital Wasteland, I have several brothers and sisters down there, I don't want to go down and find out that while we took our sweet time here, they were slaughtered, I don't want to get back and find that!" she said to Maverick.

"You and sally have 30 minutes to finish that gun and whatever other project the others want you to undertake…I'll go around and see if I can find you some protection" Sarah said, turning around and walking away, "And maybe some food" she added as she rounded a corner.

Maverick just stared at the spot Sarah vacated, then slumped to the ground next to Sally, oddly enough Veronica hunched to his level, looking at him with a smirk, "She likes you" she said.

"Huh?" Maverick wondered, "Sarah you dummy, I can see it on her eyes, she wants to leave, but can't do it, she is smitten to you" Veronica added, "Maybe because I can do things no other person can and I'm the only friendly source of information about vault dwellers and their weaknesses" Maverick replied.

"Yeah right, and I suddenly developed a liking for men"

"HEY" Johnson and Elliot snapped, offended, "Listen, she is worried, the brotherhood, to us is like family, a big, dysfunctional, quite crazy and paranoid family filled with uncles wearing only power armors, aunts who can shoot a bloatfly wings off and grandfathers that honestly are assholes, but is family, is all we have Maverick, just like you are worried about the only family you have, so is she, give her time" Veronica said as she stood up and followed Sarah to whenever she had went.

Maverick just groaned, his dad was right when he told him those three prhases of wisdom he would never forget, ever.

"_Women, can't live with one, can't live without one"_

"_There is no man in this world, or the past, who has ever being able to decipher a woman's heart"_

"_Hell has no fury like a women scorned, so make sure they are not packing weapons either"_

Truth to be told, he never understood why his dad told him that last one.

_**Thirty minutes later…**_

Sarah had to admit one thing after Veronica and Somah joined her in coming across any kind of armor or clothing that Maverick could wear to replace the damaged armor.

She always wondered when she would sue a shopping cart to actually move things, instead of seeing it being used as a makeshift cage for slaves.

For the first time, a shopping cart was being used for its original purpose, to facilitate people the transportation of many items, most of them too big and bothersome to carry by hand.

In this case however it was more of insistence of Veronica, Sarah swears that Veronica is some sort of very messed up version of a Brotherhood scribe, while Veronica is as smart as one, she shared ideologies with her father, which was very, very scary, the odds of finding a member of the brotherhood who wanted to change the ways of the brotherhood because they were outdated and would cause the extinction of the BOS in general, something that Sarah had seen and agreed as well, considering that the Capital Wasteland chapter had self-sustained itself with everything they could find, changing, something the Outcasts didn't take well, considering that those who left were the most concentrated in the brotherhood laws and missions lay by Lost Hills Bunker than rather the good of others, after all humanity cannot survive only with salvaged technology and energy weapons.

"I think I'm going to enjoy using this" Veronica suddenly said, making Sarah roll her eyes, Veronica had actually found a displacer glove, apparently that particular weapon worked like an overpowered version of a power fist mixed with a gauss rifle splash like effect, in short words, a very deadly weapon in the hands of someone who knew how to fight with its fists, meaning it was Veronica's new favorite thing in the world.

Sarah had also found several things along the way, mostly ammo for the Tommy gun and means to store it, meaning a leather utility belt with several pouches, now filled to the brim with EC packs and stimpaks, also they had found several strange white glowing alien cells, surely enhanced energy batteries for the weapons, Maverick and Sally would be pleased.

Besides food that she was more than eager to eat, she found something for Maverick to wear, black baggy cargo pants that allowed a lot of mobility, a red sweater that had leather padded shoulder and elbow pads, a black leather vest as well, alongside with black boots, two extra utility belts with enough pouches for all the ammo Maverick would have, alongside something else she didn't seen much in the Capital Wasteland, but she had found in spares in the room.

The hat she found was an item most wasteland father and mothers wanted to their children on those cold nights, where the low temperatures made radscorpions basically pour out of every single hole on the ground, and could kill more wastelanders than an army of Deathclaws.

A Chinese commando hat, but usually referred as an Ushanka, a hat that provided phenomenal protection for ears and cheeks on those cold nights in the wasteland, this was a perfect item to have, after all the weather has killed more people in the wastes that the mutated animals.

Oddly enough they had found the clothes, minus the hat on a floating device, either the aliens experimented with the clothes, which was perhaps the craziest thing they have done, hands down, or simply that's the way they put clothes.

As they reached the area the group was, they heard gunshots, more specifically gunshots of a minigun, and much to Sarah surprise, human screams.

Fearing the worse, Sarah left the shopping cart behind and rushed, Veronica doing the same, but with some apprehension, but she knew that without Sally or Maverick, they wouldn't be able to escape, or stop the aliens altogether.

_**Five minutes before…**_

"It's done!" Sally proclaimed proudly, catching the attention of the group, with a smile Sally and Maverick showed proudly their creation.

"Oh god almighty, you two are sick, sick kids" Sergeant Johnson said while shaking his head, he has seen his share of weapons, now including the alien ones, but the one he was seeing took the cake, hands down.

It seemed like someone had fused two barrels of a gauss rifle together, like a double barrel shotgun, magnet coils included, had hand-rigged them to a custom stock made out of steel and wood, out of a former pair of gauss rifle stocks, somehow was able to fit two rifle magazine on the bottom of the rifle, to feed each barrel, rather at the sides, and also kept the old gauss rifle scope and grip, alongside with the wooden grip under the barrels to grab it.

Overall the weapon looked like a wasteland edition of the gauss rifle and a sawed-off shotgun, held by duct-tape, wonderglue, spit and sheer luck, well at least this one wasn't held by neither of that, but rather a strange blue glowing gel that Maverick and Sally had been using extensively, and actually kept the weapon in one piece, oddly enough the blue glowing gel was slowly dying out, sealing any cracks on the weapon.

"Meet the Gauss Gun" Maverick said, only to be hit on the top of the head by Sally, "We agreed we would call it Twin Boom!" she snapped.

"Twin boom sounds…odd" Maverick countered.

"I don't give a damn, Twin Boom it is"

"Gauss Gun"

"Twin Boom"

"Gauss Gun"

"Twin Boom!"

"Gauss Gun!"

"TWIN BOOM!"

"GAUSS GUN!"

"TWIN BOOM TO THE INFINITE!"

"…Oh dammit!" Maverick exclaimed, making Sally smirk, "Okay, Twin Boom, but I agree under protest"

"Duly noted" Sally said with a smirk, grabbing the gun and tossing it to Maverick who caught it easily, "The Twin Boom is basically a very overpowered version of the gauss rifle, easily the stronger rifle ever made by humans hands, if you can call me and Maverick human" Sally began, making Maverick scowl.

"The fact I have a cybernetic spine and nano-machines on my bloodstream doesn't mean I am less human" he replied to the little girl.

"In any case, this gun shoots 60 bullets, 30 per each barrel, at the same time, with double the power the former gauss rifle did, that is possible because we basically made sure the magnet coils are put to their max by replacing the old human made generators with alien generators from the alien rifle that was destroyed" Sally said, "It has a very powerful recoil…so Maverick is the only one who can use it without getting blown away by the recoil" Sally said added, "Other than that, it has to use these" she said, pulling out of her pocket a single white power cell, one that glowed brightly and resembled the power cells most of the aliens weapons used.

"This alien cell in particular power up their most devastating weapon I have ever seen" Sally said solemnly, "I saw it on use 120 years ago, it was just a fluke I saw it, mostly this weapon was experimental, purely concentrated energy, unlike any laser weapon ever made, plasma barely compares to it, is like getting hit by a solar flare, there is little of you left after being hit by something like that, and yes, they have using a solar flare against living beings, not nice" Sally said.

"In any case, they made three models of that gun, and gave it to recon units that were deployed to Earth, but each one of them fell due to excess of radiation on the atmosphere during those years, causing so said ships to fall to Earth, the weapons lost forever in the crashes, alongside the crew" she added.

"While they stopped making those weapons, mostly for the time required to make one, they never stopped making the batteries for the guns, all the guns they have currently accept the batteries, but they got burned after five shots, that much output the battery gives"

"But the Twin Boom requires a lot of energy, energy the batteries are able to provide, if I'm right, the batteries have a life of at least fifty years before they die out, regardless of use of the gun, hell he could be using it 24/7 and the batteries would still not die out" Sally said proudly.

"And overheating? That kind of gun must generate a lot of heat" Maria asked, "Easy, we added a little push to the bullets expelled every time fired by using the superheated gases, this makes however that the bullet fired deform upon exiting the barrel, upon impact, well let's say that you will be lucky to find anything of the bullet" she added.

"My, how intriguing" the new voice made the entire group to shift their attention from Sally and Maverick, to the source of it; there they saw something they didn't expect.

Another group of humans, eight to be exact, all of them clad in black and red sport gear, if Maverick wasn't wrong, and oddly enough it resembled an armor he had seen on history class, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"And you are?" Sergeant Johnson asked as he hefted his minigun and aimed it to the newcomers, Maverick didn't saw the harm in it, most of the newcomers were not friendly looking, two of them in fact were eying at Sally oddly, like if they wanted her, and wanted her as wanting to kidnap her.

"You would do well in lowering that weapon dissolute" their leader, a man who had actually a helmet painted in red and with what seemed feathers attached all over it said.

Then it clicked to Maverick, the way they dressed, the weapons they carried, most of them crude made short swords, the colors, the way they spoke.

"Sergeant, don't do nothing yet" Maverick ordered, taking the white battery of Sally's hands, inserting it on the Twin Boom, and then hefting it on his hands, he began to advance at the group.

"The boy speaks with wisdom, he does well in not trusting us yet" the man said, making Maverick narrow his eyes, soon he was standing face to face with the man, while the man was tall, he was by no means taller than Maverick.

"You dress as post-apocalyptic legionaries, you go in group of eight, led by a leader, a contubernia, you must be their Decanus" Maverick said, making the man smirk.

"I am amazed, you actually know what we are, and you have deep, almost intimate knowledge of our group"

"You can learn much in history class, besides the Roman empire and their army was part of an essay I made back when I was sixteen, is hard to forget those two weeks scavenging all kinds of information about the topic" Maverick confessed.

"Ah, you know of us then, or at least our roots" the man said, "What he means Maverick?" Elliot asked, "Can't you tell Elliot, the clothes, the weapons, the way they are organized…is a Roman legionary, or their post-apocalyptic equivalent, after all the old roman army wore metal armors with leather skirts, and not sports gear" Maverick stated solemnly.

"Indeed, yet we do with what we have, like any other dissolute outside the empire, but that's about to change" the man said, looking at Maverick with a superior stare.

"I am Decanus Severus, of Kai-sar Legion, if I heard correctly of the man behind you, you must be Maverick…of vault 101" Severus said, much to the surprise of Maverick.

"How the…how do you know I am from a vault?" Maverick asked in a rather hostile manner, but it seemed Severus didn't notice, or didn't care.

"Oh I know much about you, Maverick of vault 101, far worse than a dissolute, a proditor of your own people" Severus said.

"Don't speak what you don't know, it might cost you" Maverick threatened, immediately the men behind Severus reached for their crude made swords, but Maverick didn't showed to be intimidated.

"Proditor?" Elliot whispered to Sally, "Is Latin for traitor" Sally stated, much to the shock of the field medic.

"Perhaps I do not know the events that transpired down there, but a proditor is a proditor, regardless of the circumstances, have you deserted us, you would have been hunted down, captured, beaten by the entire Cohort and then crucified, then again she has better plans for you" Severus said, making Maverick narrow his eyes even more at the Decanus.

"She freed us of our prisons, and yes I do saw the irony of it, after all no empire know has been made out of their own people, no, it has been made out of slaves, she gave us a reason to be here, to look for a 'friend' she had here, she even gave us his name, Maverick, all in exchange of maps of the territory of DC" Severus stated.

"…Who was that woman?" Maverick asked, "Someone…how was she said…oh yes, someone you offered to become a proditor as well" Severus said, there Maverick saw who had told this guy about him, and who was on board the space station.

"Amata" he breathed, not a second later, Maverick was stumbling backwards, holding his exposed chest in slight pain, his skin showing a slight straight line, Severus simply rose an eyebrow at that, a crude machete made out of a lawn-mower blade, sharpened of course an attached to a piece of wood by strong as grip in his hands as proof of his attack.

"Odd…you don't bleed…capture him and the child, kill the rest!"

"Like hell!" Maverick snapped, raising Twin Boom at the Decanus, the man saw the intention of Maverick and moved away, just in time to hear a very powerful 'boom' emanate from the weapon of Maverick, followed by the air basically being superheated, Severus hissed as his exposed skin was hit by the heat wave, but his pain was nothing compared to the one of the recruit behind him who was slow an unfortunate enough to be caught in the full blast, the armor of the recruit was no match against two bullets traveling ten times the speed of sound, and the resounding boom upon impact didn't drowned the scream of pain of the recruit as he was lifted off his feet and his chest was basically tore apart by the two super-sonic rounds.

"Retribution!" one of the recruits yelled upon seeing the gruesome dead of his partner, raising his machete and, like the rest, rushing at Maverick.

The whine of a minigun alongside the scream of two of the charging opponents made one of the recruits turn his sights on sergeant Johnson, with a roar he launched what seemed to be a home-made spear to Johnson, the dark skinned man screamed when the spear lodged on his left bicep, making him release part of the minigun, while still firing, the effect was something akin to a domino effect.

"DUCK" Maverick screamed, tossing the Twin Boom then rushing to Sally and using his body to shield her, Elliot and Maria, being more experienced soldiers, decided to duck on the thickest piece of metal they could find once they saw sergeant Johnson lose control of the minigun, three of the recruits received full blasts to their legs, collapsing in pain and bleeding profoundly.

Yet Decanus Severus, a far more experienced combatant moved out of the way easily, he stood up after he heard the whine of the minigun end.

Raising his head, Maverick saw the sergeant nursing his left arm, spear still lodged to his bicep, "Are you okay sarge?" he asked.

"No…I'm not" Johnson replied, trying to take off the spear off his arm, not noticing the last recruit rushing at him, machete in hand.

Elliot and Maria did noticed, moving away of their cover, both raised their rifles, aimed, and emptied their clips on the last recruit, the man fell to the ground, riled with holes on his entire torso.

Maverick turned around, knowing that his weight would be hazardous to Sally's little frame, when he turned he found himself staring at Decanus Severus, looking him down, a machete in hand, "You would do well in understanding your position, proditor" Severus snarled as he rose his machete, "Your head shall be a message to all traitors!"

"THE HELL YOU ARE!" Maverick eyes widened when at least a dozen of laser beams pierced the chest of Decanus Severus, cauterizing the wounds instantly, stumbling backwards, Severus left himself open for a last counter, with a snarl Maverick rose his feet and rammed them at Severus chest, the resounding crack of the entire thorax related bones made everyone wince, even more when Severus was send flying, and then landed hard on his head, the sound of bones breaking there, and the awkward position his neck and head were left after, indicated that he broke his neck, and was dead.

"Maverick!" Sarah's voice snapped Maverick of his inner mussing, turning around he saw her kneel in front of him, checking him for wounds, satisfied he had none, she turned her attention to the slowly standing Sally.

"You two…I can't leave you alone for more than five minutes…chaos follows you two like a lost puppy" she stated, extending a hand and helping Maverick stand up.

"Not our fault Sarah" Maverick said with some apprehension, looking at Sarah straight in the eyes, "Sarah…she's here" what he said didn't had sense for Elliot, Maria or Sergeant Johnson, but to Sally, Somah and especially Sarah, they knew what he spoke off.

"A-are you sure Maverick? God help you if this is a joke…"

"Is not Sarah" Maverick assured, casting a glance at the corpse of the Decanus, and then frowning.

"God…Amata, what have you done?" was all he said, really hoping that Amata was not as knee deep as Sarah had remarked several times.

Sadly, it wasn't the case.

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><p><em><strong>There you have it people, another chapter done and gone, now before I log off, I want to tell to those who have been following my work, this current story is being made to help me get over my writters block on two particular stories I have been made, and are alreayd past date, now i know many would want me to focus on them rather than this, but right now this story is helping me getting over the block, besides I always wanted to write a story of Fallout, it has so mcuh potential.<strong>_

_**in any case, as usual, i leave you with my message, read, review, and don't be afraid to voice opinions, I don't mind them, good or bad, it helps.**_

_**Hypn0s signs off, have a good day people!**_


	5. 4: Reunion

_**hello people, Hypn0s is back, that's right, i coime with yet another chapter of the chornicles of Maverick.**_

_**now i must say i am pleased in how this chapter went, and most of it how caught i was with it, truth to be told this is the longest chapter so far i have made for the story, everyone will notice it.**_

_**besides that, some answers you readers will be answered, especially the one where Amata became what she is currently, also i will be introducing OC's, mostly because the vault amount of characters i need for this to work doesn't match the number thaty appears in the game.**_

_**beside all this, all remains the same, now people, enjoy this chapter.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 4: REUNION<strong>

"Sarah, you don't need to stand guard…or look at me while I'm changing" Maverick stated to the brotherhood sentinel who was currently leaning on a corner, watching him change from his damaged winterized combat armor to the clothes she found him.

"Is not the first time I see a man naked Maverick, I am ten years older than you, I was on a relationship that nearly ended on marriage, and most of the brotherhood, Lyon's Pride included, is composed greatly of guys, guys who I have helped off their power armors when they are too wounded to do them themselves, besides is not the first time I see you in underwear" she reminded to Maverick.

Maverick just rolled his eyes as he tossed the combat armor chest plate away, and examined his undershirt, fingering the three slash mark on it, including the one of the machete Decanus Severus had made.

Slightly touching his skin, Maverick could only wonder what else was done to him besides the procedures Sally had told them when she had come across his file.

"A cap for your thoughts" Sarah said, making him chuckle, "My thoughts are worth more than a bottlecap" he stated.

"Okay, a PENNY, for your thoughts then" she stated.

"Well…I wonder what was really done to me" Maverick began, slowly taking the white boots off, then unbuckling his pants, "I mean, you saw several more procedures beyond the ones Sally mentioned when she came across my file" he began, "I have to really wonder…what they wanted to accomplish with all that experimentation to me? Was I supposed to be some sort of prototype for a human super-soldier? Or just another sick experiment to be then discarded? I want to know, to really know…was I suppose to be some sort of test subject, to see how far they could go in their experiments without killing their subjects and then bothering to kidnap others or…"

"Maverick enough" Sarah commanded, not caring he was wondering about this while on his underwear, "You wondering about everything, without a proper way to find the answers is not the way to get your answers, trust me on this, I have seen my dad doing the same over and over, is not a nice thing to do" Sarah said, looking at Maverick as he put the clothes she brought him, specifically the pants and boots, she had to smirk at that, Maverick was perhaps the first vault dweller to ever wear wasteland clothes, in a way she was slowly getting him used to the wasteland life.

"Yeah…sorry about that" he stated.

"No worries there Maverick, just don't do it again, and to all this, why you wonder about that, you are basically invincible, untouchable, stronger than any other creature the wasteland has, yes we have yet to see how you fare against a Deathclaw, but I bet my armor that you would rip a Deathclaw's arm off, and use so said arm to stab the beast, so, why you wonder about this?" she asked.

"(Sigh) is Amata" Maverick confessed putting the red sweater on, and then tying both utility belts, one around his waist, the other over his shoulder and around his torso.

"She was experimented as well, god only knows what those aliens did to her" he stated reaching for the black vest.

"You are worried for her" Sarah said, more a fact than a question, "Of course I am Sarah, no matter what kind of atrocities she has done, she is still the Amata I grew up with, the woman from I grew up, who I knew since diapers, who learned to talk, walk and go to the bathroom almost at the same time, we were good friends back in the vault Sarah, we stuck through thick and thin, when Butch and his gang sexually harassed her, I was there to talk them out, when I was depressed because I got a bad date, Amata was there to cheer me up, we were basically the best of friends, we knew all of the other" he said as he put on the leather vest, and then reached for the remains of his old combat armor, reaching for the holsters still tied to the pants, removing them and then tying them to his new set, now hanging near his left armpit.

"I can't help it Sarah, you would do the same for someone who you knew your entire life" he stated to the brotherhood sentinel, reaching for That Gun and holstering, they started to empty the pockets of his old armor, adding ammo and stimpaks on his utility belt pouches.

Sarah by her part just rubbed the back of her head with her hands in exasperation, he had a point, she would do the same, but things rarely were that way.

"Maverick, listen to me very carefully" she began, seeing how he put the Ushanka over his head, "I really don't know how things ran back in the vault, and what kind of morals you all were taught, but the wasteland, it demands more than loyalty, you need to be strong, ruthless, cunning, fast, without that you cannot hope to survive" Sarah began.

"Beyond that you must understand that there are not people like you, who care about others, who care about friends and family, the vices of the wasteland are strong, I know it, I fell for some of them, the harsh truth is that few people care about others, my dad does care, but if he dies, so dies his care, and with it the care of the brotherhood for the wasteland, the we will return to the scavenging technology, even if we have to take it off wastelander hands, even if we have to raze towns to do so" she said, advancing to Maverick and then taking his chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her.

"That's the harsh true, and the choice we all make once we take our first steps into the wasteland, Amata chose the Enclave and everything they stood for, purity and the reconstruction of a country that is already broken by killing everyone else, of a world that cannot be the same, no matter how hard we try, her choice has led her to make many enemies, including me, so I hope you don't get in my way" she stated with finality.

"Or what Sarah, are you going to shoot me? Kill me? Must remind you that so far a ship full of aliens and post-apocalyptic descendants of a dead empire have not being able to, including a freak of down there, what can you do now!" he snapped, then taking a deep breath and calming himself, the way Sarah spoke made him angry, it was so pessimist, like accepting the life down there and its predetermined rules as the only thing, not wanting to see the whole thing, he hated it.

"Listen Sarah, that way of thinking is depressing and overall piss me off, above all you are already accepting defeat, defeat by the hands of the Enclave, are you not a warrior Sarah, warriors don't give up, I know this, and I come from a vault, from a sheltered life" Maverick said to Sarah, by her part, she looked clearly shocked by his sudden outburst, both of them, she knew he spoke the truth on both accounts, so far nothing seemed to stop him, she had tried once, she nearly died, he killed an Overlord bare-handed, and on the second account as well he was right, dammit she is a warrior, she can just give up just like that…but war seems to wear you very fast, to break you.

"Look, I can't just tell you to change, and you can't hope to change me just like that, and yes I know the choice Amata made, Wally made it clear she wants me dead, but by HER hand, she actually made those Legion guys to take me to her, and kill anyone who was with me, I just…want to know what I did to piss her off, I mean she actually helped me escape, she was the one who woke me up, gave me the news, gave me a gun, and suggested the escape route" Maverick said, much to Sarah's shock.

"Whoa, I didn't knew she was so instrumental in your escape" Sarah confessed, "Yeah, makes you wonder what I actually did to piss her off, yes I beat her dad, but he deserve it, he ordered the security guards to shoot residents out of their dorms on sight, regardless of their situation, dammit two guards gunned a couple just because they wanted to get out, yes I broke his arm and surely other body parts, I used a bat you know" he said, as it held all the answers on the world, oddly for Sarah, it did.

"Maybe she is pissed because you crippled her dad, or because you escaped alone and not with her" she began, "I offered her a chance to go with me" he said quickly.

"Okay, we can discard that, maybe…just maybe she acts like this just to get you back, to try to get that semblance of normality you two had before your great escape" Sarah suggested, much to Maverick's shock, "Oh…didn't think of that" he mused.

"Or simply she is acting like a bitch, has an Enclave boyfriend who filled her head with ideas while on her weakest moment, and now believes them as such and wants you dead because you actually clash with all that" Sarah added, much to Maverick's irk.

"Great, so either she hates me because I nearly killed her old man, or she is brainwashed, neat" he said as he grabbed the Twin Boom and held it on his hands, "In any case Sarah, if we encounter her here, I want to talk to her, if I see she is indeed knee deep and I can't help her…well…"

"I get it Maverick, don't worry, I'll make it as painless as possible" Sarah assured Maverick, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"…That is not comforting at all you know" Maverick stated drily, "Hey, considering half the things the other members of the brotherhood want to do to her after the stun she pulled, I would be doing her a favor" she stated, turning around and glancing at Maverick from her shoulder.

"I'm actually letting you talk to her and get her side of the story because one, you deserve answers after all you have been trough, and two, I am curious as well why she is like this, for what I learned from you, she was far different than the one you described before, so I want to learn why"

"So do I Sarah, so do I" Maverick assured her, taking That Gun and holstering it on the holster of his left thigh, then checking around, like expecting something.

"Don't worry Maverick, the only way out of the storage room is where the Legion guys came in, this place is big, but beyond here is only junk and some very well kept cars" Sarah said, "Truth to be told, we found weapons and food in bigger piles than clothes and ammo, but to our group the little ammo we gathered is enough to supply a full regimen of the Brotherhood" she added quickly.

"I guess" he said, taking a deep breath, and then steeled himself, "I'm ready Sarah"

"Good, I was expecting it" she stated as she looked at Maverick straight in the eyes, "This is one fine problem we are, I admit it, but between you and me, we can pull this shit out, you're with me?" she said as she extended her hand, ready to clap it with Maverick's own.

"Yeah, you and me, we are just a couple of problem solvers" he said as he clasped her hand, hard.

"Let's do this"

* * *

><p>"I am disappointed with this Butch, I really am, I expected the best of the past world to be…more"<p>

"God woman stop being so picky, I mean yes they lack what make us vault dwellers what we are, but you got to admit, they are…pure"

"Their blood and genes might be, but their thoughts are not, if we let the breed with anyone of a vault they will contaminate our pure race, I want them eliminated"

"Uh, princess, in case you haven't noticed, they are armed, we aren't mainly because we are posing as harmless and gullible vault dwellers, second of all, that samurai guy, I don't know you, but I don't think V.A.T.S. will be enough against him and his sword, and third, we are all trying to get out of here, we need them, maybe as cannon fodder, but we need them"

"You made your point DeLoria, and I am well aware of our situation and plan, but I'm sick and tired of playing this game, besides, you heard what that girl who hacked the alien console said…Maverick is here"

The way she hissed that name in particular made Butch DeLoria, leader of the Tunnel Snakes to shiver, it was not like he hated the guy, he saved his mum of radroaches, later he would say he could, but seeing bugs of the size of your feet kinda scare any vault dweller before.

But Butch knew that Amata Almodovar, leader of the Femmes, and basically the epitome of being bad, and not an ass, had a bone to pick against Maverick, why it was anyone's guess, he assumed it was because Maverick had basically carved a bloody path on his way out, with a bat he had killed several guards, crushed several radroaches, had killed Wally's oldest brother, rather brutally he might add, and he had brutalized her father, the only reason Alphonse was alive was because Maverick had actually spared him for being Amata's father, nothing else.

Truth to be told, this had started even before the Enclave arrived, it seemed that after seeing her father, the many people dead, and the blood path Maverick carved, had snapped something in Amata, if someone were to ask Butch now about the new Amata, he would say he missed the old one, the one that was the butter to Maverick bread, they complemented each other, now if you put them together…is like trying to mix water and oil, or so the saying goes.

In any case, here he was, with her and part of their units, kidnapped by aliens while moving to Raven Rock, god knows what happened to Wally, his grandfather and Paul Hannon were missing as well, he hoped they were fine, especially his grandfather, considering what had happened, the experiments the aliens ran on them were nothing compared to the long list they had seen on Maverick's file.

It was long, it was painful, and according to the girl, who has live long enough and learned their language, Maverick had undergone a very deadly procedure that would have killed lesser men, and in fact had killed every single person who had been subjected to, all but Maverick, he had lived, he had survived.

And according to the girl, the aftermath of those experiments had left Maverick a super human, far stronger than anything the Capital Wasteland could pit against Maverick, not even a whole regiment of Enclave soldiers and Vault dwellers, with power armors and armed to the teeth could hope to take him down.

Amata wanted him dead, that was true, but she had seen also the file of Maverick and was greatly interested in his change, so much that she had hatched a plan out of the blue, capture Maverick, incapacitate him, escape the space station, take him to Raven Rock, brainwash him and point him against the Brotherhood of Steel, it was a foolproof plan, and was the solution against the BOS, but it had a slight problem.

It involved the very target, Maverick, he knew he would be looking for his father, he knew Maverick's father instigated a very high set of morals, morals that clashed with all the Enclave stood for, he was sure Maverick would fight with all he had, which considering the reason he was going to be used for, was comprehensible.

It was sad really that his father was not on board the ship, they could have used him to get Maverick and also get information about that massive water purifier back in the Capital Wasteland, now he had a slight idea of why Maverick's father left the vault.

"I grow tired of this, tell the rest to prepare the plasma charges, be ready to move out, we are blowing this generator" she said, looking at Butch with a stony gaze, there he recognize something else that was not of the Amata he and Maverick grew up with, something that reminded him that the old Amata was dead, dead and buried, the day Maverick left and she found the cold body of her boyfriend, radroaches feasting on his corpse, a blunt trauma wound on the head being the cause of his dead.

"Tell them also to set the charges on THAT room" she said with a smirk, one that Butch didn't liked, "But that place is filled with Super Mutants and feral ghouls, I swear I saw a dozen of Reaver ghouls and at least two dozens of Overlords, not to mention…those alien/human hybrids" Butch stated, truth to be told that room was something not even the aliens wanted to enter, it housed some of the most dangerous creatures ever to be found on the wasteland, all in cryo-stasis, he saw even bugs that had stingers of the size of his forearm, radscorpions of the size of a damn car, not to mention he saw what seemed a very deadly pair of Deathclaws that resembled nothing seen in the Capital Wasteland, one of those had stitches on the head, and presented signs of having its cranium removed and then reattached, that an a strange bear that seemed to look like a cross between a dog and a Deathclaw.

"Yes, I told you, I grow tired of this people, we will dispose of them…just make sure to grab that little baby of her mother's grasp, Sandra was it?" Butch nodded, not liking where this was going.

"You want Marie? How the hell I'm suppose to get her out of that woman and her ghoul bodyguard?" Butch asked, "Yes, I do and do not care, also task the rest to fetch those two girls and to grab Julia when the explosions begin, make sure the explosions start in one hour from the moment they are placed, make it do so" she said as she began to walk away, Butch by his part sighed, slowly looking around, staring at the multitude of people who had been awaken by Amata and company, at first this had been done because this people dated before the great war, and thus were pure humans, but it seemed that Amata had changed her mind, and now wanted them death.

"_What would Maverick do" _he asked in his mind to himself, he really didn't knew what to do now, this…mass slaughter was too much, even for him, a Tunnel Snake.

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><p>"It looks good on you" Somah complimented Maverick's new attire, making the vault dweller smile, "But I doubt it will stop bullets, let alone lasers" she added, making him roll his eyes.<p>

"Give him a break Somah, you know we were unable to find anything that could protect him as well as the armor he found" Sarah stated, "Besides, protection is just half the battle, quick reflexes and perfect aim are more paramount than a power armor, Maverick has that…and a mean gun to boot" Sarah stated, vouching for Maverick new clothes.

"IN any case, how is the sergeant?" Maverick asked to Elliot, the field medic simply smiled at Maverick, "I was able to remove the lance and seal the wound with some biogel, this thing works good and fast, the wound is sealed and sarge is ready to go" Elliot said, motioning to sergeant Johnson, already healed and hefting the minigun.

"Well…what now?" sergeant Johnson asked, looking at Maverick and Sally, the current brains of their little escape operation, and he hates to admit it, also the muscle of the operation.

"We continue onward" Sally replied simply, motioning for Maverick to let her work on his pip-boy, as he did so, and Sally began to look the map saved on the pip-boy, everyone saw how her face lit up in excitement.

"We are in luck; there is a teleporter that goes straight into the core room" she stated with a smile, "Of course I bet those legion guys use it as well…or took the long road, my guess is the second, cryo labs are a little far of the core room, but are near the storage room"

"Then it means Amata is nearby" Sarah stated, she was more than eager to make a mad dash at the cryo labs, but the hand on her shoulder belonging to Maverick and him shaking his head stopped her.

"Not yet Sarah…haven't you heard? Revenge is a dish better served cold" he stated, making her nod, albeit with some hesitation.

"Then we can take the teleporter to the core room, then what?" Maria asked, "Simple, if we want to stop the aliens dead on their tracks, we need to either damage the core so it implodes alongside the space station, taking the aliens alongside, or killing their leader" Sally explained.

"But we need to secure a way to escape, a ship perhaps?" Somah wondered out loud, making Sally think, then to pipe up, "Of course, a space saucer, the aliens have on the docks a experimental flagship, it is basically a big space saucer from the old movies, death ray included" Sally explained.

"I came across with the files of the ship in my last attempt to escape fifty years ago, I guess that by that time, it stopped being experimental and became completely functional, I bet is stocked to the brim with weapons, both human and alien like" Sally stated, much to the surprise, then happiness of Sarah.

"If we get the ship and all that weaponry…we will have the edge against the Enclave, my god we could end the war" Sarah stated, looking rather thoughtful at that.

"Maybe, that is if we get to it first, and to Amata and company, I don't trust those Legion guys with alien weaponry" Maverick stated.

"Me neither Maverick, and for the weapons I meant the human kind in storage in the ship, we are lacking both manpower and weapons to supply, we get weapons, we get people to wield them" Sarah said.

"Sounds you have to fine-tune that plan girl, you can do it once we reach the core" Sergeant Johnson stated, "Little gal, can you take us to the teleporter?"

"With my eyes closed sarge, follow me" Sally proclaimed, motioning the group to follow her, which they did so, after some turns and covering some corners, they reached a space that was devoid of any kind of human-made loot, and instead found themselves staring at the strange teleporter in front of them.

"…honestly, I expected more" Maverick said, staring at the round panel on the ground with yellow squares all over the surface, near it, in a wall lay a control panel, one that Sally was currently working on.

"You expected a pod or something like that'" Sally asked over her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes when Maverick nodded, "Well sorry to disappoint you, but they already passed that phase, it occupied too much space" Sally stated, nodding as she stepped away of the console.

"Okay guys, I was able to change coordinates of this transport matrix, originally it would have taken us the hangar" Sally began.

"It would have been better if we went straight to the hangars" Elliot stated.

"Are you crazy, I was there and barely got out, I sneaked my way out, there is no way I'm getting teleported directly once again, not without a plan of course" Veronica said.

"I thought the same, so I hacked their security cameras, check this out" Sally said, reaching for the console and activating the holographic display in it, there the group saw a massive alien mobilization, mainly aliens in red gleaming jumpsuits, carrying things and weapons inside smaller saucer like ships, on the background they could see the ship Sally spoke off, docked but surely filled with the items she told, also they could see several things in particular, one of them was a orange skinned alien, seemingly barking orders to the other aliens, at his side a massive human with something deeply grafted on the back of his neck, and surely on his spine as well, near them what seemed mechanical shaped human skeleton shaped machines, well in the torso and arms at least looked human looking, the legs, to Sarah, seemed like a pair of Deathclaw legs, their heads were alien shaped, surely to house their massive brains, and in their arms they carried what seemed the alien version of a minigun, all shiny looking, in silver polish and blue glowing areas.

"It seems the other guy who was subjected to the experiments Maverick was subjected to is not so dead as I first believed" Sally said with a clear frown, "Also those robots are the shock units, their elite, the aliens remove the brains of their best soldiers, and place them back in robot like chassis, those things can take a rocket face-first, and that's without the inertia fields" Sally said, making all groan.

"Like I said before, I didn't bring Pulse grenades" Sarah stated bitterly.

"Fortunately the thickest part of those machines is their head; the rest of the armor is compromised of pistons and is poorly plated, Maverick could easily punch their generators out, or punch a hole and place a grenade inside, they are as agile as an average human, that's because their massive heads cause a slight misbalance on their bodies, and the gyroscopes cannot compensate for that misbalance fast enough" Sally added.

"Basically armor piercing rounds should do the trick, right?" Johnson asked, "In theory they should, their most sensible parts are located in their head, but that area is thick, only the Twin Boom can punch a hole in that thick plating, however their torsos, especially the thoracic cavity mockery they made of, house the gyroscope and the generator, well placed rounds on that area can damage them both, causing immediate shutdown and if the gyroscope is damaged, they fall on the weight of their heads" Sally said, making everyone nod.

"Okay, if they have the inertia fields, just leave them to me, if they don't, we'll just shoot" was all Maverick summarized of Sally's explanation, "Thanks for that captain obvious" she snapped, then smirking, "Since you're so eager, how about you go first" before Maverick could formulate any coherent thought or vocalize it, Sally was already behind him, pushing him onto the teleportation matrix.

"Wait Sally, I'm not too comfortable with this" he finally said, not standing on the platform.

"Oh stop being a baby, I won't hurt" she stated simply, "Is not that, is just that I don't feel very comfortable with this thing playing pinball with my molecules, besides what if…like a fly goes with me and its DNA gets mixed with mine, I don't want to be the first human/fly hybrid, and by god if that happens I'm planting my mutated eggs on your brain Sally" Maverick snapped.

"Okay, first of all, Ewww, no really, ewww, second of all, this place doesn't has insects, is basically sterile of any kind of micro organism that might endanger the aliens, we are breathing a special solution of oxygen, so don't worry about mutating, they already messed with your organism in more ways than possible, and last, suck to be you if that happens" with that told Sally pressed a button, and the matrix came to life, enveloping Maverick in a yellow light, one that slowly began to fragment Maverick in small, yellow dots of light and sucking them onto the matrix itself.

"Holy SSHHIIIIIIII" Maverick, or what was left of him screamed as he was finally defragmented.

"Okay that went well, whose next?" Sally said with a cheery smile, immediately everyone took a step back, and then pushed Veronica up front, "Oh sure, push the naïve girl with stars in her eyes and a pneumatic gauntlet on her hand to her possible doom, how nice of you…jerks"

* * *

><p>"GHAAAAA!" anyone who had been in that room at that moment would have been shocked to see how a human body is reformed after being defragmented in small yellow particles, traveling at the speed of light from point A to point B and then being put back together, molecule by molecule.<p>

Maverick by his part made his way far of the dammed machine, as much as the room permitted him, the experience was not exactly as pleasing as the abduction itself, more because the molecules that composed his eyes individually caught the trip, and somehow all the molecules were still linked to each other, making the trip far worse, an experience he is sure will not get use to, never will, and if he had his way, he would never repeat.

Soon Maverick attention was caught when he heard one of the mechanical doors open, the sound was unmistakable, turning around he found himself staring at the end of the barrel of a 10mm handgun.

"Don't even…well…I'll be dammed, Maverick" Maverick by his part groaned in annoyance when he recognized the voice of the person on the other end of the gun.

"Ugh, Crazy Jackie" he moaned, then saw how the cannon got even closer to his face, "My name is NOT crazy Jackie!" the Asian girl with short black hair and blue eyes,, snapped at Maverick all while shoving her gun even closer to him, Maverick didn't looked intimidated by this, all things considering.

"You are surely unlucky Maverick, crossing paths with me of all people" she said with a smirk, Maverick noted she was still clad in a vault jumpsuit, but he noted that this one had metallic kneepads and metallic elbow pads, also had an utility belt around her waist in black, and the usual spots of yellow the old jumpsuit had now was black, she also had a holster tied to her right thigh, he also noted that the jumpsuit seemed bulkier, like if had something inside.

Maverick observed Jackie with a critical eye, long gone was the shuttering mess that was Butch's stalker, she was called 'crazy Jackie' because she stalked Butch and also was in love of him, and truth to be told, you had to be crazy to love Butch in those times.

"You're changed" Maverick said casually, "So are you Maverick, all wasteland clothes and weapons, and an Ushanka, where did you found one? Not even the officers in Raven Rock get one" Jackie said casually as well.

"A friend found me one" he replied, looking at Jackie then straight to the eye, "We didn't believed you were kidnapped, truth to be told when that girl found your file, picture an all, we were surprised, even more with all that crap done to you, six months is a lot of time to tinker someone, especially you" Jackie stated, smirking.

"Then you know what I'm capable off, don't temp luck, move that gun away from my face" Maverick hissed at Jackie, slowly moving to his right, forcing Jackie to do the same, giving her back to the matrix teleporter.

"Don't think you were the only vault dweller experimented, I got very fast reflexes now Maverick, I bet even faster than yours" she said with a smirk, "Don't think too highly of yourself, V.A.T.S. will not help you with me, I got V.A.T.S. as well, and I was experimented by the aliens to make a human weapon, your experimentation was just reflexes, I am far above that, also it helps I have the bigger gun" Maverick said, slowly moving Twin Boom to her, she immediately pressed the gun to his forehead.

"Don't think about it Maverick, you might have killed before, but I assure you, before you kill me, you will have a bullet in your head, I won't give you a chance, just like you didn't give a chance to Marcus" Jackie snarled.

"Amata's boyfriend? I never came across him, he lived on the deeper levels of the vault, you knew that better than anyone else, you lived there as well, you were his neighbor" Maverick reminded, "My room was two levels above his and yours, I made a straight line upwards, and you know better than anyone that Marcus bowed to the overseer law, if he said duck, Marcus would duck without hesitation…Tch, maybe that's why Alphonse approved him" Maverick said with a mocking smile.

"You were jealous of him and Amata" Jackie said, "You forget I set them up, yes there was a time I cared for her, crushed on her, but considering who was her father, that story would have ended as Rome and Juliet" Maverick stated, "Only in this story you or your father would have killed the overseer" he nodded at her remark.

"In any case…I'm sorry, I know how close you were to him" he said, "Don't apologize to me, even better don't apologize at all, you and your asshole of a father have a lot to answer for, releasing the radroaches, the fires, the dead guards, the dead dwellers, Marcus, Amata's change, all of that…but you and him have their uses, I don't know why the Enclave higher ups want your dad for, whatever the reason they want you as well"

"As a lure to a trap, typical, my dad will see it 100 miles away" Maverick reminded, his eyes gazing on Jackie's own, yet he was able to hear the hum of the matrix materializing another person, Jackie did not.

"A trap he will walk willingly, all for his son" Jackie stated, slowly lowering her gun, "Now…I wonder if Amata will punish me if I blow one of your kneecaps" she wondered out loud.

"How about I break your arm" Jackie turned around, brandishing her gun arm at the oncoming armored fist, just to scream in pain when so said armored fist shattered her gun and hand, when Jackie looked at her hand, she could only stare in shock at the pocking bones on the flesh and blood pouring out.

Jackie had little time to ponder how to make the robed girl pay when Maverick had seized her up by the neck, with his left hand, she gasped when he lifted her up, fast, and then released her, her back slamming hard on the roof, gasping on pain and then grunting when her body met the floor.

Turing around on the ground, Jackie could only gasp when she found herself staring at the twin barrels of the jury-ridged gauss rifle.

"Tell me…will Amata be mad if I smear your thoughts all over the ground?" Maverick's question was the last thing she heard for the moment as she fainted for her wounds.

"Fancy friends you have back in the vault Maverick" Veronica said, looking at the unconscious vault dweller on their feet, both humans recognizing the sound of the matrix powering up yet again to materialize another person.

Maverick by his part waited until Sarah materialized out of the matrix, oddly enough she was the last to do so, when he saw her, he immediately grabbed her hand and made her walk towards the unconscious form of Jackie.

"Sarah, I might know what happened to Amata" he said, looking at the sentinel straight in the eyes, "You do? Never mind that now, do you have any idea how important the capture of this girl is?" Sarah asked, which Maverick answered negatively.

"Well, ever since they surfaced, the vault dwellers have no accounts of dead on their ranks, let alone captured, they are sneaky as it can get, my dad was toying with the idea of sending the pride to Vault 101 and capture or kill them all, after all they have been the turning point of this war, have they not surfaced, The Enclave and the brotherhood would have been on a stalemate, but Vault 101, Megaton included, are deep within Enclave controlled territory" Sarah said.

"Now, with this girl…with this girl, we will finally know everything we need, their weakness, where they go, the patrols roads, the password of that door, albeit Tristan would be happy with just placing enough explosives on the entrance, setting them up and causing a collapse on the entrance, burying them in their tomb" Sarah said with a sneer.

"Enough Sarah, I know where this goes, but we are not going to lower ourselves to the enemy level, don't let revenge and rage consume you, remember, he who seeks vengeance must dig two graves, one for his enemy, and one for himself" Maverick replied.

"Well said kid" Maverick turned fast, really fast, Twin Boom already aimed to the newcomer, a woman, clad in a lab robe, long black hair and brown eyes, her face was dirty, and in her arms she held a small bundle of some sort.

"Lower your weapon now" Maverick turned his gaze of the woman, and instantly panicked, "Holy mother of mercy! What happened to you? Reactor activation procedure gone wrong? Never mind, Elliot, get me the biogel, lots of it!" Maverick called to the medic.

"Maverick…" Sarah began, "Yeah?"

"He is not some sort of extreme burn victim, he is a ghoul" she stated, looking at the tall ghoul before them, easily towering over Maverick and her, with a strong wide jaw, one that basically was set on kill mode, like of the rest of the burned like face of the man, like the rest of the ghouls, this one had just a handful of hair, and was missing his nose, the cavity where this once was replacing it, clad in a leather armor and holding a drum shotgun, a weapon usually seen in the Capital Wasteland.

"A ghoul you say, you said they looked like zombies, not like burned victims" Maverick snapped, keeping the Twin Boom aimed at the woman, the ghoul in fact seemed to get agitated by the gun aimed at the woman and pressed the shotgun muzzle on Maverick's chest, to the enhanced vault dweller, who had just been held at ground point by Crazy Jackie, a girl that back in the vault was known for fits of anger or joy depending if it was related to Butch, didn't like that action one bit.

With a grunt Maverick turned and grabbed the muzzle of the shotgun with is left hand, then sweep it away of the ghouls hands, hard, then he displayed what he thought of a person pointing a gun at him, by ramming the shotgun to the ground, hard, the poor thing had little chance against the strength of a being who tackled and Overlord and ripped its arm off without effort.

The ghoul only could look how Maverick returned to him the only part of the shotgun that didn't broke on impact, the bended cannon, "Next time you point a gun at me, make sure I'm not angry, I could have ripped your arm off" Maverick stated as he lowered the Twin Boom and looked at the woman.

"Sorry to point the gun at you ma'am, but…" Maverick trailed off, his eyes traveling to the still unconscious Jackie.

"Oh…I see you came across them I see" she said with a slight sneer, her eyes narrowed, "Charon, kill her" the ghoul now named Charon moved to actually kill Jackie, but Maverick and Sarah were already on his way, Sarah pointing her laser machinegun at Charon.

"Don't even think about it" Sarah stated seriously, "This vault dweller is under custody of the Brotherhood of Steel, she has answers to my questions" Sarah stated, the woman gave Sarah an ounce over, then sighed, "What rank you are?" the woman asked.

"Sentinel"

"…My god, you are Lyons daughter, Charon stop" the ghoul stopped immediately trying to push his way onto Jackie, also there was the obstacle named Maverick, Charon wouldn't admit it out loud, but the kid didn't moved an inch at all when he tried to push him.

"You look good girl, for someone reported dead" the woman said, looking at Sarah straight in the eye, then looking at Maverick, and going eye wide, "My god, is you, subject Zeta" she exclaimed.

"I have a name you know" Maverick reminded, "Of course, but that wasn't on the file the girl found of you, just all the experiments done to you, and your designated subject name, god, a vault dweller not loyal to the Enclave" the woman said with a smirk.

"I'm Sandra, you already met Charon" the woman named Sandra said to Maverick and Sarah, "Charmed" Maverick and Sarah said at the same time, "And, this is Marie" now their attention was focused on the little bundle on her arms, a bundle that, upon further examination, turned to be a baby.

"Ohhh, look at her, she beautiful" Maverick instantly was all over the little baby, cooing all the way, "Who's a little, chubby girl, cute to boot, yes you are, yes you are"

"…now that's scary" Sarah muttered, she also noted that Charon was advancing at Maverick for being way too close of Sandra and Marie, "No Charon" Sandra stated, making Charon stand down, but to look at Maverick with a suspicious glance.

"Okay, I'll be honest with you two, when my husband, god rest his soul, found out that Lyons lost his daughter, reported dead to boot, he was torn in either celebrating or sending his condolences, after all it could happen to anyone, and Ashur knew what is to be a father" Sandra began.

"Also, ever since the Pitt fell to those Legion bastards and they nailed my husband on a cross, I have been very…edgy, especially when I escaped those vault dwellers began to take pot shots at my escort, I was just sheer luck I was abducted alongside my daughter and that the aliens didn't started their sick experiments right on the bat, maybe that's why I escaped so easily" Sandra summarized.

"So in short I trust a vault dweller as far to be in the same room as me and Marie, and that's pushing it, but you are different" Sandra said, looking at Maverick, who still had only eyes for Marie, but he seemed to be paying attention, "But you are different from them, your file states you were taken six months ago, meaning you were out of the vault even before, you have no previous contact with the Enclave, that makes you the only dweller who is either neutral or hostile to them, and the experiments done to you…make you valuable for a plan I got" Sandra said.

"I don't know you or what you want to do, but I won't stand another minute in this god forsaken place, placing the life of my daughter in danger, I want to escape, some people want to escape as well, but we need you as our muscle, you're up for it?" Sandra asked, just to see Maverick rise his head, and chuckle.

"Woman, that's what we are trying now" he said, as on cue, every single member of Maverick's group showed themselves, Sandra slightly rose an eyebrow at the sight of Pre-war American soldiers, then she turned to Sarah, "Well Lyons, I must admit, a super human and three soldiers, not bad, but I can top it off" Sandra taunted, "Charon, be a dear and fetch us some ropes, we have a piggy to hogtie" she commanded to the ghoul who without a doubt turned around and walked away, returning minutes later with a set of ropes.

With a merry smile, Sarah tied the still unconscious Jackie and then motioned Maverick to carry her over, "Why the hell I should carry Crazy Jackie?" he asked in shock.

"One, because you are in default a vault dweller, so you get to carry her, second because I say so, and third…Crazy Jackie?" she wondered out loud, "Long story involving Butch, Jackie, a day of boredom and an altar of Butch made of noodles" Maverick said as he grabbed the woman by the belt on her waist, and an ease that everyone found shocking, hoisted over his left shoulder, all while holding the Twin Boom on his right hand.

"When we return to the Capital Wasteland, I'm so asking Glade to hook you up with a pair of miniguns, one in each hand" Sarah said with a smile as the group followed Sandra and walked away, Charon flanking Sandra.

As they left the small room, they found themselves walking on an aisle filled with trash on the ground, cans and pieces of metal poking around, alongside empty food boxes.

"The aliens are deadly afraid of human trash, can you believe it?" Sandra said, only to hear a snort of Maverick and Sarah, "Afraid of human trash, but not afraid of butchering human beings and tossing their remains onto cells and let them rot like trash" Sarah snarled.

"You saw that too huh?" Sandra asked, "You too?" Maverick wondered.

"My cell was not exactly five stars, the smell of rotten flesh was upsetting Marie, when I left the room I saw the source, a dozen of people dead, butchered and left there to rot, but I'm used to see humans disembowel, accidents with Auto-axes happened often and suicides even more, the Pitt is not exactly as friendly as the wasteland, and is either suicide of becoming a trog" Sandra said, slightly rubbing Marie over her blankets.

"A what?" this time Maria asked, "Don't worry about it now, all that matters is fine-tuning the escape plan, after that…after that…" Sandra trailed off, "I don't know, raise Marie, and wait until she is grown up enough to actually pull out blood without hurting her and ending that damn cure"

"Cure? What does a little baby has to do with a cure" Sarah asked, making Sandra smile bitterly, "Marie…is special, she was born with an innate resistance to radiation, basically she cannot be poisoned with radiation, also she was born without mutations at all and a natural inborn reistance to those mutations, in the Pitt there is a 100% chance that every baby born there turns feral and into a trog, thanks to the lingering radiation and the many toxics in the environment, but Marie resisted them all, most surprisingly I might say, hell even me an Ashur had to take a daily dose or Radaway to endure the harshness of the Pitt, and we were far of the radiation points, but Marie…"

"Marie was born for greatness" Maverick said simply, "Exactly, I theorized that any children she has in the future will inherit her inborn resistance, and the children of her children will too, and so on, and on and on" Sandra said.

"Of course I tried to found a cure for the TDC and those about to turn into trogs, but that would require some really invasive experiments on Marie, and I won't do that, I can't, not yet, and I doubt I would have…damn that Wernher and damn to hell Midea as well, those two betray us to the Legion, they actually lead their troops inside, killed everyone, albeit I found satisfaction in hearing the Legion soldiers scream when they found the trogs, I escaped out of a fluke" Sandra said, "All because Wernher told them that Marie was born with that resistance to radiation, I nearly got caught by a legion soldier called Vulpes, now he must be hating me, I kicked him hard on the balls and bit his nose off for trying to take Marie away from me" Sandra said.

"Lady, remind me never to get on your bad side" Sergeant Johnson said, "Noted soldier" she said with humor, then stopping near a mechanical door, "Okay, listen guys, the vault dwellers awoke many people, I roughly counted over a thousand people" Sandra began, much to the shock of the group, "But they were subjected to another brand of experiments of the aliens, I guess the worse" she said, motioning Charon to open the mechanical door, with a hiss the door opened, and everyone could see what she meant.

People clad in clothes of several eras were actually battling each other, a frenzy of death if could be described, all had feral like looks on their faces, basically crying blood and sweating blood, it was maddening sight.

"The hell" Elliot asked, "Is like seeing feral ghouls fighting for food" Somah said with a grimace, "Is not far from the truth, these people are their first experiments" Sandra replied, seeing the frenzy of battle in a bored fashion.

"Then why Sally is not like them?" Maverick wondered, "I said their first, most of this people date from 1200, even lower than that, so is not surprise that most of this people are over one thousand years old, even more" Sandra replied.

"Then…what the hell the aliens did to them, they act like berserkers" Maverick asked, "Not far from the truth, the aliens messed with the thyroid glands" Sandra began.

"The glands that control most of the body usage of energy, makes proteins and how sensible is against hormones?" she nodded, "Yep, in short words they messed with that, now instead of generating the needed proteins for growth, is generating another set of proteins, the gland is forcing the hypothalamus to release oxytocin, vasopressin, and corticotropin-releasing hormones, which in turn force the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormones, which in turn releases corticosteroids from the adrenal cortex" Sandra said, no one had any idea what she spoke of.

"I see, they are basically drugged to be in a rage induced state" well it seemed Elliot did understood her, "Not only that, they are basically running on adrenaline alone, no human body, well normal body can resist so many blows, pain and agony without adrenaline in their system, increasing their strength and pain threshold, but limiting their intelligence" Maverick added, Sandra by her part was impressed.

"I'll be dammed, you two know more than I expected, I'm impressed" Sandra said.

"Well, I was a doctor before I was shipped to Anchorage, and you would be surprised how many rage induced patients I had to tend before" Elliot said, "My dad is a doctor, I ended up as his assistant, according to the G.O.A.T. and trust me, with the limited number of people only going to dad for stress and drugs, I had plenty of time to read a lot of medicine books, books as thick as my fist" Maverick replied.

"Well, I am truly amazed, I hope any of you two know how to work with genetics and drugs, because as soon we leave this place, I'm going to recruit you and you're two going to help me find a cure to the TDC" Sandra added.

"This is odd" Somah muttered to Maria, "What, that Elliot and Maverick are getting job offers?" Maria asked.

"Well, that and the crazies are not attacking us" now that drove the attention of Maria, and of Sandra, "Don't worry, the crazies as you call them are driven by a protein that is generated in their bloodstream, once spilled and they get a sniff at it, they go and attack the source of the blood, no normal human, or Maverick has it" Sandra said, making Maverick scowl, "Trust me Maverick, I saw your file, I got that girl traducing me all the odd things they put you, and I know that you have zero chances of driving these crazies on a frenzy, just move and ignore them" Sandra said, taking the lead again and making her way alongside the frenzy people who were beating the shit out of each other with whatever they had at hand, some of them even lacked hands, or fingers.

The group made their way around, Maverick kept a close watch on Sally, "I am surprised they are not suffering from cardiac arrest" Maverick stated, "Hell, I'm surprised they are moving at all, the adrenaline on their bodies must be on historical charts" he added.

"No shit Maverick, is like…they are on Psycho" Somah said, "Psycho?" Maverick and Sally asked, making her shake her head.

"You guys are hopeless, well in any case" Somah began, seeing how the duo gave her dirty looks, "Psycho, in short words, is a drug that makes you badass, you become a fighting machine using that, but it makes you dumb" Somah said, "Pretty much like they are now" she added, Maverick by his part just looked at the crazies in pity.

"Doctor Sandra…is this everyone, everyone is…crazy?" Maverick asked, "No, in fact a small group of 75 people remain sane, all things considering, but if I discard the vault dwellers, our group would be fifty people roughly, and four children, three girls, a boy and my baby girl" Sandra said.

"And everyone wants to escape?" Sarah asked, "Yeah, I told them there is no much to look up, but well, living in space gets old after a while, and well, no matter how hard we try to deny it, that old mud ball is our home, that and also living in space, with aliens breathing on our necks is not too comfortable" Sandra said, "Besides, most of that group hold some of the brightest and unique, if not touched on the head, minds I have ever encountered, of both the pre-war and after the war, maybe we can do something to fix our world" Sandra said, finally reaching another door, once opened they saw what it was.

"An elevator…thank god" Maverick said with a smile, "You didn't liked the matrix teleported didn't ya?" Sally asked with a smile, "Like I said, I am not going to have my molecules being transported around, even more if there is the risk of me appearing with something missing" he said as he entered the elevator first, soon followed by the rest, as the doors closed, Maverick gave one last, pitiful glance at the crazies.

"Guess we can't save them all" he muttered as the elevator moved upwards.

"I doubt they can be saved, the damage to the thyroid was too great, not even the aliens have been able to reverse the damage, and most incredible of it all, they catch several of the crazies and turn them into…those abominations"

"We know" Sarah and Maverick replied together, "Maybe that explains why they are so hostile, they use alien DNA mixed with human crazy DNA, they have to turn hostile" Sandra replied, "Yet they have a full room filled with them on stasis, ready to unleash upon call on the world, we got to blow this place up, we can't settle with just cripple them" Sally added.

"I agree with the little gal, these freaks are getting their due" Johnson stated simply, "Okay, so where are going now?" Elliot wondered.

"We are heading towards the seventh floor, the first floor where I found you up to the sixth is crawling with crazies, not to mention the sixth floor has those abominations as well…what the hell, we are stopping on the sixth!" Sandra snapped out loud, making everyone actually stare at the door with some apprehension, even more when they stopped and the door opened, revealing on the other end an abomination that turned around, and wailed, pointing its arm at them.

"RRRAAAAAGHHH!" Maverick by his part equally roared, and then kicked the charging abomination on the chest, lifting it up and breaking any bones in the chest, much the shock of the group, the abomination sailed away like if it weighted nothing, and then head crashed on a wall.

"That fell good" Maverick stated as the elevator door closed and it continued its trek onwards.

"…Sally was right, you're getting stronger" Sarah stated, looking at Maverick straight in the eye, "The more you fight the more adept you get to your new skills, I doubt you would have done the same the first time we met" she added, much to the slight discomfort of the group.

Once the elevator reached the last floor, everyone made their way out, following Sandra, they noted that the floor, unlike the first floor, was pristine, or as pristine it can get with so many junk of the world below, and mines, who can forget the mines that made a custom made minefield and the three nuka-cola dispensers placed as a wall.

"Wait here a minute" Sandra said, taking some steps forward, "Han, deactivate the mines" Sandra commanded, not a second later, much to the shock of the three American soldiers, a lone Chinese commando emerged out, holding a small remote on his hand.

"Ah, comrade Kundanika, I see you are well, did you found the energy disturbance?" the Chinese commando asked, a thick accent present when he spoke, surely one of the very few Chinese who thought that it was a good idea to learn English, so they could understand the Americans during the Sino-American war.

"I have Han, right behind me" she said, Han, if they heard correctly, looked at the newcomers, and had his eyes widen when he saw the American soldiers behind Sandra.

"Ah, American pigs" he said, "Say what!" Johnson snapped loudly, nearly waking Marie, apparently, the little girl is a heavy sleeper.

"Ugh, I'm sorry, old habits die hard" Han stated as he reached for the remote and flipped a switch, immediately the minefield died out, "You all can come in, but I will be watching you" Han stated, his statement pointed to the three soldiers on the group.

Once the group crossed the minefield, Han flipped the switch again, and the mines came back to life, without anything else to say, Han sat on the ground, and pulled a small Chinese pistol and began to disarm it.

"That's Han, the only Chinese commando I know is not shooting Americans on sight" Sandra said, "The war is over…my war is over, I have no country to fight for, no reason to kill now but to survive" Han said out loud, making all grimace, especially the three soldiers, now reminded that the world they knew, the world they fought once was long gone.

"Let's go" Elliot stated as he walked away of Han, so did Maria and Johnson, making the rest to grimace, "They'll get over it…I know they will" Han muttered, only Maverick was able to hear it, "I got over it"

After that the group continued walking, noticing several things along the way, for instance the room where Han was alongside the mines was separated, after exiting that room, they came across what seemed a circular platform, surrounding what seemed a long crystal that held some sort of purple like energy inside.

"That's the core guys, from the top the energy is distributed to all the space station by capacitors, we need to damage the core, so all the energy that is wasted is diverted to life support around the space station, this will deactivate the turrets both inside and outside, also it will deactivate several contention fields around several labs, releasing the most dangerous creatures around, beyond that, I guess a Rocket Launcher could do the trick" Sally said, not caring, or not noticing the scandalized looks of her friends.

"A rocket launcher? Girl if you want to blow us up then I recommend you the Fat Man" Johnson all but screamed to Sally, "Hey, that's a good idea, I always wanted one, but dad said they were expensive" she said.

"…that was sarcasm!" Johnson all but snapped to Sally, "So was mine…where do you think we can find a Fat Man, they are rare back in my days, they are even rarer today" she added, making Johnson feel really stupid now.

"We will think of a way to damage the core, in the meantime let's see where Sandra wants to take us" Sarah stated, "Oh yeah, nearly forgot, where you're taking us?" the sentinel asked.

"I'm taking you to the girl who found the files on Maverick and the vault dwellers…I swear, ungrateful bastards, we help them and they ditch us, Maverick, be a dear and next time you meet one of them, punch their teeth out" Sandra said the Maverick.

"I don't think is a good idea, with his current strength he could punch their heads off, I must remind you that he ripped the arm of an Overlord Super Mutant and bash it to death with so said arm" Sarah said, much to Somah's shock.

"He did WHAT? Holy crap!" the dark skinned mechanic shook her head in utter fear, now she was sure, her new no-no, besides shooting a Deathclaw and then running away was to not piss Maverick, he will actually use your severed limbs to kill you.

"So the dwellers are not around eh?" Sarah asked, "Nope, and I don't care if they are around to be honest, they can all eat shit and die for all I care, well not you Maverick, you seem to be the good sort" Sandra stated, "Well…thanks…I guess" Maverick muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, Marie didn't cried when you got close to her, every dweller that got close to her made her cry immediately, even when she was asleep, you on the other hand didn't, if she can trust you, so will I" Sandra said.

"Is nothing really, truth to be told I always attended the children back in the vault scraps, black eyes, small cuts, chemical burns that I'm actually afraid to even find out how they happened, I always had to console them, in time I learned how to approach them, talk to them, it also helped that I never buried my inner child, you could find me playing baseball with the kids as soon as I could" Maverick replied.

"It sound like fun" Sarah said, "It was, although many parents didn't like me, don't know why, maybe my dad got onto others people skin besides the overseer" Maverick added, looking around, he spotted at least a dozen of people, all armed, two of them were dressed as cops, holding actual military carbines in their hands.

Near the cops lay seated on the ground three women clad I pre-war sundresses, each one of them held a handgun, and in the middle of the ladies a pile of ammo.

He saw also a pair of men clad in brown soldier like fatigues, with their armor displaying the words 'NCR' in white and a two headed bear as an emblem, one holding a missile launcher, the other holding a pair of rockets on his hands.

This and many more people were seen around, like a small town, working together, gathering food and supplies for whenever they could find, but one thing remained whenever Maverick and company passed.

They all looked at Maverick, and the load he had on his shoulders.

And truth to be told, it was getting on Maverick's nerves.

"What's with these people, they are looking at me oddly" Maverick asked to Sandra, "(Sigh) let's say everyone saw your file, and those three women over there" Sandra said, pointing at the three woman with ammo around them, "Are gossipers, hear everything you can do, eventually this got out, also the fact you are carrying a vault dweller, and let's say they didn't left on peaceful terms" Sandra said.

"They left…but why?" Sarah asked, not liking this too much, it reminded her of something, but she had yet to put her finger on it, "Beats me, but they left unarmed, I guess they are on the fourth or fifth levels, since the crazies don't attack anything but themselves, is a safe place to be, well, relatively speaking" Sandra stated, stopping near what seemed a security room like the one Maverick and Sarah had came across the aliens and Maverick had downloaded the map for the space station.

"Okay guys, I'm off, Marie needs her diapers changed, and Charon needs a new shotgun" Sandra stated, "One word of advice, Julia has been a little edgy" Sandra began, just to Sally to perk up at that name.

"Julia?" Sally asked, "Yeah, well, she was browsing around the files of the several abductees of the station, and she came across the one of her little sister, apparently her sister is marked for termination, one that is yet to be carried out, she wants to find her, but she can't leave us, and truth to be told, while we want to help her, this station is too big for a group of fifty people to look for a single girl, so its better you don't mention her" Sandra said to the group, Sally by her part nodded seriously, but Maverick noted that she was slightly smiling, almost eagerly, also she was grooming herself.

"Okay then, we'll see you later" Maverick said to the departing Sandra, smiling fondly as he saw the bundle on her arms move, "Okay, let me do the talking" Sally stated, making the group stare at her oddly, "You? Uh, not to offend, but I doubt they will take you seriously, unlike us, they don't know you" Somah said, making Sally smirk.

"Oh trust me Somah, she knows me very well" Sally said cryptly, they group didn't know how to answer that, so they just settled with letting her do the talking, like she requested.

Taking a deep sigh, Sally reached for a console nearby, opening the mechanical door easily.

"By god Paulson, if you're still nagging me about your gun I swear…" a female voice snapped once the doors opened, everyone noted the baggy pants she wore, alongside the dirty sneakers and wool sweater, alongside the backpack that hung on her back, they noted also that she had the same hair color as Sally.

Currently the girl was sitting on the ground, Indian style, all kinds of alien artifacts lay dismantled around her, including an old looking revolver, and some of that alien epoxy Maverick and Sally had used to assemble the Twin Boom lay around her as well.

"I don't know you" Sally began, making the girl stop on whatever she was working on, "But I know my name isn't Paulson…sis" Sally added, slightly shocking the group.

As for the other girl, she slowly turned around, showing all that she shared more than her hair color with sally, she was like an older version of Sally, but with green eyes, instead of the dark blue of Sally.

"…S-sa-sally?" the girl said, shock evident on her voice, "Yep" Sally said happily, but the group noted how her voice slightly cracked, "I-t…oh my god…is you" the girl said, slowly standing up, looking at Sally with utter shock, Sally simply nodded, slowly making her way to the girl, "Hey sis…I'm back" she said, those words were the cue for both girls to make a mad dash to each other.

Soon everyone was seeing how Sally was hugging the teenager girl tightly, crying their lungs out.

"Come on guys, let's give' em some privacy" Maverick said as he walked away of the touching scene, the rest pretty much understood that this was a private moment and so they let Sally and the teenage girl to their own devices.

_**Fifteen minutes later…**_

"This place…is amazing" Veronica spoke, looking at the core in the middle of the room, "I know, bet ya my armor that any other brother or sister would have lose their socks at the sight of this place" Sarah added, "That I have no doubt, I would be more shocked if the elders didn't have an orgasm at the sight of the weapons" Veronica said with a smirk.

"Maybe, maybe not, after all this technology, while fits the targets the brotherhood stands for, is not human made, so we don't know how to use it, besides Sally and that other girl" Sarah reminded, "Yeah…" Veronica said with a far off sigh, then perked up.

"Hey, is possible when we make it back, that…I don't know might join your chapter?" Veronica asked, catching Sarah off guard, "…Uh, why?" Sarah asked, it was not unknown for members of other chapters to leave such chapter, and request to join another chapter, the reason vary, from simply boredom, to utter disgust with the chapter and the elder in charge.

This action went against the chains of steel, that which bonded everything in the brotherhood, the chain of command is followed strictly, and leaving a chapter is considered betrayal, no matter the circumstances.

In this case however, rules could be bended, if a little, after all Veronica comes from a chapter that has stuck to the brotherhood original directives, unlike her father's chapter, which had taken such directives as a secondary objective and has put the welfare of the wasteland and its inhabitants as the top priority.

Of course, if the member who wanted to chance chapter made it out alive of his or her former chapter, and found another one, he or she had to ask the elder of that chapter, the lead scribe and the highest ranked soldier for the transfer, after that is just a matter of adding the name of such person into the archives of such chapter, and notifying the chapter from which the person belonged of this, to prevents mishaps.

Now the question that the elder, the high scribe and the solider will ask to the person who wants to change is…

"Why?" Sarah said out loud, staring at Veronica straight in the eyes.

"Well, to be honest, word has gone out of your father's chapter's goal, the aftermath, the outcasts, everything" Veronica began, making Sarah sigh, this was just great, the Capital Wasteland chapter was the hot gossip among those in Lost Hills.

"And well…it fits me" Veronica confessed, making Sarah make a double take, "Say what? You actually agree with my dad's goals?" Sarah asked.

"Not only that" Veronica confessed, "Your dad is adapting to the situation, while no one knows about the war with the Enclave, they know he is recruiting from locals, locals are learning from us, and the brotherhood learns from them" Sarah there nodded at her reasoning, in the beginning, the only way to take down a Deathclaw was by pumping it full of lead, by three miniguns, and even there you didn't know you would be able to stop its charge without casualties, but when the locals began pouring inside the brotherhood, they came with knowledge, the use of poisons for starters, radscorpions poison mixed with an overdose of Jet, Psycho and powered mentats, to cause a Deathclaw senses to lag, after all no living being is able to fight properly with an overdose of the three main chems find in the wasteland, in short, now even an initiate with a dart gun with such concoction could bring down a Deathclaw, with a switchblade.

Sarah also knew why her dad began recruiting locals, and it was something Veronica and Maverick knew better than anyone else, the brotherhood was living a basic vault sheltered existence, at first all is good and dandy, then it began to see the after-effects if new blood wasn't introduced regularly, to both the vault dwellers and brotherhood members, it means doom, and having children with members of the same community only helped to ease the problem, but in time one realize that in the long run, it only makes it worse.

Lost Hills didn't seem to see this, and if Rothchild is to be believed, the cold war with the NCR is not helping at all, also shunning the wastelanders, basically diamonds on a rough, make it even worse, while the brotherhood has survived the 200 years, it has been, ironically, thanks to first, a Vault Dweller who destroyed a super mutant brain master know only as 'The Master' thus stopping the worse of the super mutant menace, then helped also by the grandchild of such vault dweller, only know as 'The Chosen One' defeater of the Enclave.

"Listen Sarah, is not that I don't like my chapter, and I care for the people there, is just I have tried so hard in trying to explain them that in the long run our sheltered lives will kill us, and if we don't start adapting, then we will die out, and then what? We will be just another name erased by the wasteland, but they listen, no, we don't need the help of wastelanders, the chains that binds are to be upheld" Veronica snapped bitterly.

"Sometimes I wish the chains didn't existed at all" she added, making Sarah sigh, "I know Veronica, sometimes, when I see an Outcast, I want to just shoot them, but I have to remind myself that they chose what they want, and if they want to die out, then so be it" Sarah said in a oddly subsided manner.

"But those who remained with dad knows that what we are doing is a noble cause, and it will bear its rewards in the long run, once the war is over, we will have more recruits, more weapons, the people will trust us, dad knows this, I know this, the initiates know this, is just a matter of fighting…and winning" Sarah said, making Veronica smile slightly.

"You sound oddly cheerful…all things considering" Veronica said, Sarah simply shook her head, "Well, all things considered I should be a bitter veteran of war, a thirty year old woman with no love life, nor friends, true the Pride is my unit and I trust them as brothers and sisters, but there is a great difference that of brother to friends…something Maverick made me realize" Sarah began.

"You should have seen him spoke of Amata, of an old Amata, she was instrumental in his escape of the vault, without her…Maverick could be dead or another puppet of the Enclave if worse, whatever the case, Maverick trusts Amata, he won't believe anything I tell about her, of her atrocities until he lay eyes on it himself…or confronts Amata himself" Sarah said, Veronica just sighed.

"As for your request" Sarah began, changing the topic altogether, "You have my approval, I'll have to talk with my dad and Rothchild about this, but they will accept you, we are short on people, and a scribe, even more one that can punch a super mutant head off will be welcome, hell, if word of this gets around, I am sure others like you will come to us, this in turn will bring the attention of Lost Hills HQ, and then…well, let's hope they are ready to accept reality" Sarah said, walking away of Veronica.

"Hmm…oh well, better star bonding with the others" Veronica said to herself, making her way towards the crowd of people around the area, obviously knowing that the two NCR troopers were looking at her.

As for Sarah, she made her way towards another section of the floor, this one in particular was filled with junk, mostly broken trash, clothes and weapons that could not be used at all, and this included also boxes of food and pieces of alien drones, like the ones that had attacked them back in the storage room.

But Sarah knew that there was another use for this area, one she and Maverick found, a place to hold and interrogate Jackie, while the woman had awoken just five minutes after Sally's and Julia's teary reunion, she had said nothing so far, at least no to her, Maverick had requested to talk with Jackie alone, after all he has more chances of intimidating her and making her talk, and he knew her better than anyone else, Sarah knew Jackie was not one of the regular dwellers sighted in attacks, she had to be new, a new recruit, someone who had been kept in the vault as a reserve until called upon.

As she approached the area, the trash became thicker, and while odorless, it didn't help a lot with the sight.

Once she arrived there, she saw Maverick kneeling in front of Jackie, the girl looking at the former vault dweller in defiance.

With a hiss Maverick stood up, then turned away of Jackie, "You can't help her Maverick, no one can! Not even her father, not even yours, not even you, she is lost" Jackie words seemed to be a premonition to Sarah as Maverick walked away, and taking her by the shoulder, forcing her away as well.

"Maverick? What was that?" Sarah asked, looking at the serious Maverick for a long minute, walking with him, even if forced.

"They are lost Sarah" Maverick said, now far enough of Jackie to not be heard, "I talked to her Sarah, she just kept spouting propaganda stuff, Enclave stuff, how they were going to roll around and kill every mutie on town, children included, god Sarah, they spoke of people like if they were trash" he said, looking slightly desperate, and she couldn't blame him.

"She told me every person in the vault is going to join the Enclave, and after they are done with the wasteland, they are going to look for me and my dad, and put our heads on pikes in front of the vault as a warning…not that they can now" she smirked at that, even if they could, Maverick would surely kill them all in such manner and numbers that it would be a hollow victory.

"And Amata…oh god I can't even start telling you what she has done, not only to others, but to herself…I…I don't know what to do" Maverick said, looking at Sarah, his eyes basically pleading her for an answer, albeit he knew what was going to be her answer.

"I don't know Maverick, I understand your situation, somewhat, the Outcasts are a faction of the brotherhood that left and follows the original goal" Sarah said, "But this is different, the Outcasts has never attacked us, got ahead of us and stole things, yeah, but outright conflicts and threats, no, I guess there is only one last thing you must do before making up your mind" Sarah added, looking at Maverick straight in the eyes.

"You need to confront Amata with this, all you have heard, all you know, confront her, do this, and you'll find your answer" she said as she grabbed Maverick by the shoulder and squeezed.

To Maverick, this was a sign of reassurance; at least it was comforting to know that in all this mess with the aliens, the Enclave and Amata, he could have someone he could trust on.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?" Maverick wondered, Sarah by her part also gave it a long thought, truth to be told she didn't have friends back in the Citadel, allies, many, brothers and sisters, a lot, a boyfriend, used to, but a friend, a true god honest friend, nope, she didn't had one.

"I guess, all things considering…but yeah, we are" Sarah said, Maverick slightly smiled, then looked at Sarah with a serious face, "Okay Sarah, as a friend then, I ask you to please not follow me when I confront Amata, I know she will be with the other dwellers, and let's face it, your head is a nice target" Maverick confessed to Sarah, making her frown, but then nod, with a sigh of course.

"Okay then, I'll let you do as you wish, but just because you ask me nicely and I know you have better chances against them than me, with all the V.A.T.S. thing and all that" Sarah confessed, to be honest, she didn't like the idea, but if she wanted the help of Maverick to take down the Enclave once they escape the space station, he first must see firsthand what has become of the vault dwellers, how depraved had become, and to make his decision.

Soon they had left Jackie behind, and had arrived where the group was, clearly surprised when they saw a lot of people, maybe fifty people in the area, all wearing different clothes, most of them armed, they also spotted the four children Sandra spoke off, three girls and a boy, all of them wearing more dirty version of the clothes Sally was wearing.

"Got anything good of that dweller?" Johnson asked to Maverick upon seeing him, "Just confirmed my fears sarge, I need time to digest it" Maverick confessed, making the sergeant grunt in affirmation.

The large group of escapees soon saw Sally emerge from the room, along with Julia; many were clearly surprised by her sudden smile, as most of them were getting used to seeing her frown and to be outright cranky.

"Okay people, listen up" Julia began, Maverick was able to hear something else, turning around, he saw what seemed an Asian man, clad in a strangely ornamented armor, holding a slim curved sword, being spoke off in a language that he didn't recognized by another Asian woman clad in a stripped sweater and a long smooth beige skirt.

"We have our means to escape finally" Julia stated, looking at each of the people gathered currently, "As you all know, we lacked two essentials, a distraction, and the muscle to carry it out" Julia said.

"And before anyone starts saying we are well armed and numerous, I must remind you all that while we are far tougher than the unshielded alien, they have more weapons and people than us, and I just learned that they have also someone of the level of subject zeta, or better known as Maverick…the guy with the Ushanka" as on cue, every single eye lay on Maverick who let a soft, nervous laugh and rose his hand up.

"Eh…hello all, how're you doing?" He asked, "Regardless of the fact they have someone on par with Maverick's strength, the plan will carry out, because we have another ace in the sleeve, Sally" Julia said, directing all the attention to the small girl at her side.

"Okay then, first of all we need to gather as much weapons as possible, and of course to no one to question my plan, is foolproof as long we carry it out well, okay?" Sally stated, if Maverick wasn't surprised by this, he hid it well, unlike the rest.

"As I see there is no questions, let me lay out our escape plan" Sally began, slowly walking around.

"Our first step is to blow this generator, the core is basically raw energy held by a thin glass, channeled to the capacitators, which distribute it to the rest of the station, turrets included, to our plan to work we need first to blow it up, this will cause all the defense mechanism of the ship to automatically to shut down to prevent and outage on the life support systems, unfortunately this will also make the cryo-labs to lose energy, this included pods with any creatures held inside, but by the time they are released, we will be half-way to our destination, in this part Maverick and Sarah Lyons, the girl on the power armor comes to play" Sally said, catching Sarah off-guard.

"Excuse me? Why me?"

"Is simple really, you of all have the better protection against anything the aliens will throw, including energy weapons, Maverick on the other hand is basically our buzz saw, he will cut a way through them, whenever they like it or not, because our escape route crossed with a heavily transited path the alien troops use generally, I am sure they know our current position, and have already set a blockade to stop us, is there where you two come in play" Sally continued.

"Maverick will open a path by any means necessary, I don't care how, he will open it, by that point they will deploy their shock troops, they are nothing against Maverick if he knows where to attack, as for you, well, whatever remains alive and Maverick forgot to kill, you will deal with it" Sarah nodded, now understanding Sally's plan.

"After this is just a matter of running like hell, the core, after damage, will reach critical mass within half an hour, by that time we must be through that blockade, after that we will only have fifteen minutes before the core collapses, a series of explosions will announce this, followed, five minutes later by a massive cascade reaction that will consume the space station and everything inside it, alongside anything within a 100 kilometer radius, it might be small, but let me assure you, the wave will be like being hit point-blank by a nuclear warhead" Sally stated, making all gulp.

"Now, as four our escape transport, well, we will just hijack their most sophisticated ship, used several times to abduct people en masse, the Mothership, codenamed Zeta, just like Maverick" Sally stated.

"Uh…who is going to pilot it, as far as I can see, we lack a pilot" one of the cops asked, "Don't worry about it, my sister and I have intimate knowledge with alien tech, thanks to the experiments they carried out, my sister is an amateur on this because she was awoken 25 years ago, experimented and put in stasis, but she gets the hang of it fast, don't worry, we will have that ship running as fast as possible, after that…well that depends on everyone, Maverick and Sarah need to return back to Earth, I bet some of you do to, other will find more comfortable a life inside a ship, I don't know, in any case, we will try to find a suitable place to set you all down and try to start over" Sally ended.

"I might know one" a little girl with dark skin stated, drawing the attention to her, "Well, is near us of course, sometimes I sneak around, there is a place called Oasis" She began, "I heard of it, supposedly is filled with trees, pure water, and actual paradise" Sarah stated, "But is just a myth, no one has seen it"

"Well I have, I come from there" the girl said, "Anyway, Oasis, if one of the adults is to believed, was once a mining town, but the bombs caused a collapse in the entrance of the town, yet I was able to find a way in, is small, but I'm able to fit inside, there are still houses there, grass, some trees, a small river that has pure water, and the trees bear fruits, is a perfect place to stay and settle, the only thing is…well my dad, he is not exactly fond of outsiders, even more with the war raging" the little girl said.

"We'll cross that bridge when the time comes okay?" Maverick stated, making the little girl smile at him, "In the meantime, I suggest gathering all you can, we leave…as soon as I finish something" Maverick said the last part with some hesitation, something everyone noted.

"Julia, do you have any idea where the vault dwellers are?" that caught everyone by surprise, "Yeah, what? You want to ask them for support, then you're wasting your time, they won't listen to reason" Julia said.

"They are scum Maverick, don't waste your time kid, the Legion at least has some standards" one of the NCR soldiers said to him, "They are dishonorable, not trust-worthy individuals, you do better with no associating with them" the Asian looking woman stated, Maverick simply sighed at that.

"That's the problem people, whenever I want it or not, I am related to them, I am a vault dweller as well, know every single person in that vault, grew with half of them, I know what made them tick…or so I believed, you'll understand I need to get some straight answers from the source, them" Maverick replied, taking the Twin Boom in his hands and moving a small crank in it, then handed it to Sarah.

"I reduced the power of the weapon so you can handle the recoil, a just in case if the aliens decide to get in while I'm gone" he said to Sarah, the brotherhood soldier simply rose and eyebrow, but accepted the weapon, knowing this was a sign of trust.

"They are on the fourth floor, but be careful, we were missing a box full of 10mm handguns, and a pair of .45, I guess they took it when they left, and that might explain the gunshots we heard" Julia said, Maverick simply smirked, walking towards the minefield and onto the elevator, "Grab anything you can use, weapons, foods, stimulants, be ready when I return" he said as he walked away.

"…Okay people, you heard him, get ready to move, we leave as soon as he returns!" Sarah all but snapped, her tone of voice had the desired effect, causing everyone to scramble and start gathering weapons and other items to carry food and stimulants.

Sarah simply smirked, she had enjoyed that, even more when both NCR troopers had actually saluted her and went to do the same.

"_Oh yeah, I love being the one in charge"_

* * *

><p>Maverick took a deep breath as the elevator doors closed and it began its descend towards the fourth floor, he had left the Twin Boom at Sarah's care because he didn't knew if he could bear to use that overpowered weapon against the vault dwellers, his people, if they dared to attack him, but of course he didn't left unarmed, he had That Gun, and truth to be told, no handgun made before the war could compare now to the raw power of That Gun, maybe a magnum, or a handcannon.<p>

In any case, there was no turning back now, he knew what he had to do know, reaching for That Gun, he drew the gun, and waited until the elevator stopped.

Once it did, he waited until the doors were open, once open Maverick was aiming at whatever might come to the door.

Seeing that nothing had tried to attack him yet, Maverick slowly made his way out of the elevator, once outside he could see that indeed Amata and the rest of the abducted vault dwellers had been there, nothing else could explain the number of dead crazies on the ground, each one of them with headshots, some of them were missing chunks of the back of their heads, some sides of their heads, most of them however were missing their heads outright.

"(sigh) Amata…" he groaned, looking around, and avoiding in stepping on a piece of jaw, or an eyeball belonging to a crazy, then slowly holstering That Gun.

"I know you're here Amata, come out, come out wherever you are" Maverick called, recalling a line he always said when he and Amata played hide and seek when they were eight.

Just this time the game of hide and seek wouldn't end with some of the carved cookies of grandma Palmer and Nuka-Cola to down them.

Maverick's HUD suddenly flashed him something, turning around he was welcomed with a shot on his left shoulder, yet the impact just made him stagger, the bullet, now flattened flying away, leaving only a hole on his clothes.

"I should have know sneaking past you wouldn't work, you tinkered with your HUD in a way no one would sneak behind you" a female voice sounded, yet nothing was visible, at least not to the naked eye, Maverick's HUD indicated someone in front of him, another feature of his Pip-boy nerve overhaul.

His sharp eyes caught the water like ripple effect in the air, and knew immediately she was there, "1, 2, 3, a cookie for me" Maverick stated as suddenly Amata materialized before him, on one hand a 10mm handgun, clad in the same uniform Sarah had to be forced to wear to cover her nakedness before finding the ATHENA armor, on her left hand she held what seemed a hi-tech watch with an antenna on top.

"4, 5, 6, you better share it with me"

"…you have a lot to answer for" Maverick said to Amata, the girl, no, woman simply gave him a long look, then pulled the trigger again, the 10mm round impacting Maverick, this time on the chest, now he didn't staggered, but the bullet was yet flattened again.

"Well, now I know where the experimental DIAMOND Implant went alongside with Doctor Pascal, pity I just found him…or his head for that matter" Amata stated in a bored manner, making Maverick sick.

"Cut the shit out Amata, you know why I'm here" Maverick snapped, making her raise an eyebrow, "My, such hostility, yet I didn't expected less of a mutant such a yourself" she spat.

"Mutant…how low have you fallen to believe that lie" Maverick stated.

"Don't even start with that Maverick; if you were human you would understand me and the goal of the Enclave, reconstruction, a new life, a better life" Amata spoke.

"And that justifies the mass genocide the Enclave wants to pull, Jackie told me everything about it, and I'm clearly disappointed in you, you were better than this" Maverick snapped, his eyes slowly tracking Amata as she slowly circled him.

"And you think that affects me at all Maverick, you made your choice when you left to look for your dad" Amata spat.

"Don't even start with that lie Amata, you and I both know why I left in the first place, you oh so loving father, the magnificent leader who ordered Jonas death because he was afraid he would lose whatever power he had on our lives!" Maverick hotly replied, Amata simply sneered, something that Maverick found alien in her.

"What he did was for the good of the vault! I was a fool in helping you!" Amata hissed, "Oh really, did he help you when that asshole of Steve was beating you? Oh I forgot, he wasn't, he was actually watching!" Maverick yelled.

"He did what every leader does, sacrifices" Amata snapped, looking at Maverick with pure loathe and hate, there he saw what used to be his best friend was long gone, gone and forgotten to all but him.

"And what you did? you killed outstanding officers, all died by your hand, in the line of duty, you nearly killed my dad by your unrequited vendetta against his authority, you and your dad actions nearly caused the death of Monica, Christine lost her mother and her face was burned beyond recognition, she, Paul, and Monica would have died if the Enclave hadn't roll in and saved them" Amata snapped.

"How dare you!" Maverick snapped, "I didn't start the fires! The guards attacked me! I acted on self-defense! You think I would simply lie down and get beaten to death because it was the right thing to do? After what they did to Jonas? I didn't do nothing more than to defend myself, it was your father, the hypocrite who caused all those deaths, he and his over the top actions caused more deaths that the radroaches! I saw the Holdens being gun down on sight! Don't you dare to pin their deaths to me you bitch!" Maverick snapped angrily, that was enough for Amata.

Maverick saw her swing from a mile, but in his rage he didn't measured himself, he brought his right fist rather violently to the weapon she brandished to him like a club, the impact shattered the gun in tiny pieces, leaving Amata with just the grip of it, but this wasn't enough for Maverick, with a scream he brought his feet to her stomach, hard.

Now Maverick found odd that Amata didn't outright died for the blow, yet it was enough to lift her up in the air, all while holding her stomach, then landing on her back, rolling around, then stopping, basically on her knees, and then vomiting blood.

"You're sick Amata! You need help!" Maverick snapped, his eyes sad, yet determined, Amata simply chuckled when she was done vomiting blood.

"So…you heard about my little adventure" she said with a smirk.

"Adventure? You sick bitch, you killed an entire family, children included, you sick fuck!" Maverick snarled, advancing at her, Amata didn't look intimidated by this, yet she grunted in pain when Maverick lifted her by the left arm and swung her to the other end of the room.

Landing roughly on the ground and rolling, Amata slightly groaned as she tried to stand up, "Well…it seems the NEMEAN works after all" she hissed to herself, yet Maverick heard her, "NEMEAN? And implant? Amata what have you really been up to with the Enclave?" Maverick demanded.

"A lot, let's just say I am far better than I was before!" Maverick was surprised when she shot at him and actually nailed him with a right hook, then grabbed he sides of his head and began ramming her knees to his stomach, following it with a kick to his sides, Maverick had enough when he tried to nail him in the groin, his hands easily grabbed the leg aimed to his groin, and then squeezed.

Amata tried to endure, but the pressure on her leg was too much, releasing his head was a mistake as he suddenly tossed her leg back, and then back slapped her, making her stagger and spit blood, then gasp when he shoved her back, the force send her reeling backwards and onto her butt.

But Amata was far from done, standing up she pulled a combat knife from the back of her clothes, and began to sweep it to Maverick as she tried to slash him, Maverick kept his distance, not because the knife would cut him, but because Amata didn't knew the knife would not have any effect at all on him.

Ducking a sweep to his head, Maverick brought his fists to her right side, Amata grunted in pain when the blow met her unprotected ribs, it felt like a power armored fist, she didn't knew however that Maverick had to tone his strength down to not kill her, he couldn't kill her, he wouldn't kill her.

Hitting her sides with 'soft' blows, Maverick topped when he heard a crack of one of her ribs, Amata dropped her knife and took several steps back, holding her left side in pain.

"Amata! Please stop this! This doesn't to end this way!" Maverick pleaded, Amata just snarled at him, "Well Maverick, unfortunately for you, this will end in this way, we have Project Purity, we just need your father to finish what he started and then all will fall into place!" Amata snarled, slowly making her way towards a door.

"Dammit Amata! You're crazy! My dad has nothing to do with this war!" Maverick snapped, only to see when the door opened, and Butch DeLoria of all people came in, holding Amata by the shoulders.

"You're wrong Maverick" Butch said, Butch was as Maverick remembered him, slick hair, a leather jacket under his vault jumpsuit, a switchblade hidden on his jacket, the only thing that didn't fit was the plasma gun on his waist.

"He has everything to do" With that Butch took Amata to the other side of the door as this one closed, Maverick, in rage pulled That Gun and let two shots out, only to meet the already closed door, the impacts bending the steel easily.

"Ugh, dammit!" Maverick snapped, checking the damaged door to see if he could open it, then sighing, "…Why…just…why?" he wondered as he turned tail and went to the elevator.

But before he could reach the elevator, a nearby explosion near another door shook him, especially when these explosions were mimicked in every floor.

Maverick's curiosity of what those explosions did where answered when the door where that explosion came from suddenly opened, albeit with some resistance, and his eyes widened when he saw what seemed a emaciated bubbling corpse walk out, pure white eyes starting at him.

"Oh shit" Maverick snapped as he entered the elevator and the door closed as soon the walking corpse pulled something out of his stomach, and launched it at Maverick, Maverick just ducked the projectile of gore and shot the thing in the head, the overpowered bullet tearing its head off.

As the elevator rose off, more explosions were heard, making Maverick worried, even more when he heard gunshots.

"No" he hissed, really hoping this elevator could hurry it up.

Maverick never realized nor noted the plasma charges set on the base of the core generator until these blew off twenty minutes later.

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><p><em><strong>Okay people, that's a wrap for this chapter, I told you this was going to be a longer chapter, and to have a lot of OC's, and even people of the wasteland, I know some might ask why Sandra is there and why the legion attacked the Pitt, well I took the ide of the pitt being destroyed by the legion from another story, one where both Sandra and Ashur are killed by Vulpes I believe and Marie is taken away, and so far it has only one chapter.<strong>_

_**whatever the case I am satisfied with this chpater, now all that remains is for you all to read and let me know if you liked the chapter, as usual review, it helps a lot.**_

_**oh and for those who are eager for the Rayearth srtories, i am alreayd working on the chapters, i needed some steam to get back, and right now i'm on a roll.**_

_**so till next time, Hypn0s signs off, be well!**_


	6. 5: The Great Escape

_**Hello fellow readers, it is I, Hypn0s, bringing you another chapter of the Chornicles of Maverick, now I must say so far this story shows promise, considering that my last attempt at a fallout history was a complete fiasco, and no you can't find it in my prfile because i erase it, my only story so far that has met that end.**_

_**Now i want to thanks those who had been reading a review the story and reading it.**_

_**now onto the show shall we, enjoy!**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 5: THE GREAT ESCAPE<strong>

"Damn it all to hell!" Sarah snarled as she gunned down yet another feral ghoul, a ghoul from her home, it was in times like these she cursed the person who started the damn Great War, the man who pushed the button and screwed humanity.

Another wail caught her attention, she only turned to see the head of the armored feral being blow away by a shot of Paulson, the cowboy was actually a good shot and pulled headshots left and right, even more considering the feral ghouls, while physically strong, are actually fragile, well with the exception of the Glowing ones and the Reaver ghouls, one because they heal by the radiation they had in them, and the others had the remnants of a metal armor on them, grafted on their skin, granting them protection.

Sarah had little time to ponder into this when a Reaver ghoul actually appeared, making a mad dash at her while holding a piece of gore on its hand, just when it was about to launch it, it's right hand was sliced cleanly of its wrist, this stopped the Reaver long enough to Toshiro, the reason the Reaver lost its hand, to lash with his katana, slicing cleanly the neck of the ghoul.

Sarah could only stare in amazement on how clean the cut was, hell the body was still catching up with the fact it was now lacking a head, shaking her head she looked around, and focusing her sights of every combatant.

She, like the rest, had heard the pair of gunshots, alongside the scream of rage of Maverick, alongside with parts of the conversation he was having with Amata, the parts he shouted of course, then the explosions, and all hell broke loose, in the literal sense.

Whatever happened on a room far beyond the minefield, the explosions had caused a chain reaction, according to Julia and Sally, that room was in fact a big room where it was held in cryo-stasis some of the most dangerous non-human experiments caught in the wasteland.

Among them the first to actually emerge had been a Deathclaw, perhaps the biggest Sarah had ever seen, while the horns of the Deathclaw were pointed backwards, instead of forward, it was still as intimidating as dangerous, and hard to kill, as the minefield it trekked and the 200 rounds of a minigun used to put it down could attest to, well at least the minefield softened the flesh of the Deathclaw, so the rounds could penetrate better.

"Goddamitt to hell, these ghouls sure are persistent as they are ugly" Johnson said as he fired another burst of his minigun, mowing a group of unprotected ferals with ease.

"Don't get cocky, these things are like zombies, alone they are shit, together they become a bigger pile of shit!" Somah snarled as she blasted the head of a ghoul, then kicked the corpse away, causing a group of ghouls behind it to trip on it and fall, easy picks for Somah.

Sarah kept downing every ghoul she saw, this she found odd, after all she expected at least more variety on their attackers, not that she was complaining, as she reloaded her gun with another EC pack, she saw, like the rest how the number of ghouls attacking actually became thinner, until they stopped pouring altogether.

"Well…now that is odd" Sarah muttered, staring at the halls, now filled with the corpses of the ferals, it was just sheer luck that no one got hurt.

"Okay people reload and check for wounds and wounded!" Sarah called, everyone nodding and following her orders, "I got a bad feeling" she muttered.

"…this silence…is creeping me out" Paulson said, looking at Sarah, "No shit cowboy" Sarah muttered back, then turned to Paulson, "Go to your family now, check if they are okay" she stated, he didn't needed to be told twice, after all he had nearly got his family torn away from him, they were torn away from him, frozen solid, like him, it was sheer fortune that they were alive.

Suddenly growls or rather a loud growl was heard on their floor, making Sarah tense up, she wasn't the only one, everyone who was done reloading was aiming their guns at whatever might emerge, and it did emerged, but not in the way she expected.

She has seen lots of things in the wasteland, from the odd to the gory, to the sad to the funny, and stuff of legend, things that just spread to the wasteland with just one witness of it, the scourge of the Pitt, the slaughterhouse that was the Republic of Dave, thanks to Amata.

But seeing a Deathclaw, one of the most dangerous creatures of the wasteland, flying towards a wall was certainly something you don't see every day, or any day for that matter.

The Deathclaw simply stood up, albeit with some difficulty, that was the last thing the Deathclaw did before two super-sonic bullets ripped through it, one blowing its right arm clean of its socket, the other basically opening a hole of the size of a child's head on its chest, not to mention the exit wound, which was of the size of an average human torso.

"Good lord, the aliens are fucked up" she heard, recognizing the voice instantly, slightly jogging at the remains of the Deathclaw, she saw Maverick of all people there, a trail of feral ghoul corpses with caved heads behind him, or cut down by the Deathclaw.

"Maverick! You magnificent bastard!" she exclaimed as she made a full sprint on him, "Sarah!" Maverick replied, unloading the empty shells of That Gun and hand-loading the receiver, much to Sarah's surprise, in a near blink, she also noted that his once pristine face, devoid of any kind of scars or cuts now had a neat three lined scar that started from his forehead, passed to his nose bridge, slightly cut his lips and ended on the right side of his chin.

"Goddamitt, Amata is in deep shit when I get my hands on her, I swear it, and Butch, oh he is going to regret not actually shooting me" Maverick snarled, "I come out of the elevator and these ghouls attack me, dammit I used the butt of That Gun to kill them, and then this…what in god's name the aliens did to that?" Maverick snapped, pointing at the Deathclaw.

"Maverick" Sarah began, "That's a Deathclaw, is natural in the capital wasteland, more to the north, fast, strong, and it can shred you apart, armor or no armor, in fact its claws can cut an armor down, and you with it" Sarah said to Maverick.

"Damn thing tried to take a sweep at me" Maverick snarled, "It did" Sarah mentioned, running her pinky finger to one of his cuts and then showing to Maverick the blood accumulated in it.

"Oh…that explains why I felt like ripping its face off" Maverick muttered, "Instead you decided to punt it to a wall and shoot it to death" Sarah stated drily, then sighed.

"Here's your gun" she said as she handed him the Twin Boom, he noted that the gun was not warm at all, "Didn't fire it, too overkill against a ghoul, no matter how many they are" she added, seeing how Maverick put the gun to its original power setting.

"Is everyone ready?" Maverick said, "We were five minutes ago, just after we heard the first gunshot, I can see Amata less than warm welcome" Sarah drabbled, seeing the hole on Maverick's clothes, on his shoulder and chest.

"10mm, the bullets got flattened upon impact, she said something about a DIAMOND implant" Sarah simply rose an eyebrow at that, "I'm not stranger to sub-dermal implants, most brotherhood has it, the IRON implant in particular, pretty popular, used vastly in elite special ops during the pre-war era" Sarah mentioned, "I have one as well, along with some special ones to make me a deadlier soldier" Sarah added.

"That might explain why the aliens didn't experimented on you so heavily" both adults turned to see Sally behind her, "Sorry to interrupt you both, but we are ready to move out, we just need your OK to use the rocket launcher to blast the core and we can move" Sally stated.

"Good, tell them to wait at the door, as soon as the rocket launcher is shot, we leave" Maverick stated, walking away, Sally was about to leave as well when Sarah held her by the shoulder, "What the aliens did to me?" Sarah asked.

"Not much, truth to be told I was surprised when I saw your file, of all the people, besides Sandra and Marie, you are the less experimented" Sally replied, "I asked what they did to me, not how much they did to me" Sarah shot back.

"As I said not much, I guess they saw you clad in a power armor and decided to give you some edge, basically you're stronger than before, faster, and younger" Sally said, making Sarah blink.

"I…younger?" Sarah asked, "Yeah, they used the same procedure they used on me, but instead of keeping you on a permanent 30 year old state, they reduced your age to twenty five, apparently your prime" Sally said as she walked away, Sarah just remained on her spot, shocked completely.

Not because she was now five years younger, not because she was stronger ore faster than before, no, she remained there because her brain was trying to catch the fact that a girl who is over 200 years old, just told her she is old, and past her prime.

"I…SALLY I AM NOT OLD!" she snarled as she marched angrily where the escapees were gathered.

It seemed nuclear fallout was not enough to snuff the righteous flames of rage of a woman when she is told she is old.

As she approached the group, her rage was suddenly focused on another thing altogether, how Jackie, broken right hand an all, held two of the little girls together, all while being held at gunpoint by a vault dweller.

"How the hell he made it past us?" she wondered, that was until she saw on his right wrist a stealth-boy.

"Oh, sentinel Lyons, how good to join us" the vault dweller said, Sarah instantly recognized the dark skinned boy of Maverick's age as Paul Hannon, the second.

Of course Sarah and the brotherhood knew him by other name, "Paul the butcher, I should have know, whenever the snake of DeLoria is around his little lapdog would follow" Sarah snapped.

"You're just mad we butchered those initiates" Paul Jr. replied, then his eyes traveled to Maverick, and actually grinded, "Well, I'll be dammed, Maverick, you bastard, you dare to be still among the living after what you did"

"Cut the crap junior" Maverick snapped, That Gun already out and aimed at Paul, "I had the same chat with Amata, made her vomit blood and broke some ribs, but unlike her, my history with you is not a nice one, now drop the weapon or I'll blast your head off" Maverick stated.

"You're bluffing, that shot is not even possible with V.A.T.S." Paul stated, "Maybe, with Jackie in the middle maybe…NOW!"

It happened too fast for anyone to realize of it until it was over, one moment Jackie was on the line of fire, the next she is on the ground, her body over the girls own, two gunshots, one louder than the other, and Paul 'the butcher' Hannon Jr. was missing his head.

Maverick lowered That Gun at the same time the headless corpse of Paul met the ground, holstering he walked towards the fallen Jackie, the girl looking upwards.

"You know, somehow 'I told you' doesn't cut it" Maverick said to Jackie, the vault dweller simply scoffed at that.

"What the…how the…explain" Sarah said, seeing how Maverick helped Jackie stand up.

"Long story short, she wants asylum" Maverick began, "Asylum? Why she would want that?" Sarah asked, "I accidentally downloaded information Lyons" Jackie said, Sarah could see that her right hand was already healed, albeit a little swollen.

"How you 'accidentally' download information" Sarah asked, "My pip-boy" Jackie began, "Is a series 3000-C, unlike Maverick's, this means my pip-boy is only compatible with a specific download port, unlike the A and B series which accepts all, unfortunately, the only port compatible was the overseer's personal computer, I needed to update my pip-boy and his computer was the only one compatible as I said before, he let me update my pip-boy out of pity, and mostly because I was going to be shipped to Raven's rock" Jackie said.

"But…the C series have a slight…eh, glitch" she said in a very uncomfortable manner, "They…download everything" Jackie said, the meaning didn't went unnoticed to Sarah however.

"Everything?"

"Yeah, from the useless and memory consuming files, to heavy encrypted and super valuable files" Jackie said, "I was already out of the vault when he realized of this, and ordered my termination" she said, "Of course I didn't knew until I checked my pip-boy and the file 'overseer's personal log' appeared, there I realized I was marked" Jackie added.

"And being a vault dweller, clad in a jumpsuit didn't help either" Sarah said, "Nope, I ran for my life to be honest, I was fast back in the vault, perhaps the fastest, voted the fastest person around, and Maverick here was voted the most optioned to survive outside, I swear, he knows medicine alright, but his inkling is basically hacking computers, picking up locks, fixing guns of all kind and basically making bigger shit out of lot of little shit" Jackie explained.

"Girl, focus" Veronica added, entering the conversation, "Oh yeah, well, as I said I ran, I did a pretty good job, of course I didn't noticed I was in Deathclaw land until I saw two of them basically ravaging the remains on an Overlord" Jackie added.

"On a high noted, out of the thirty dwellers send to kill me, Amata and Butch included, ten died by the Deathclaws, I swear perhaps me and maybe Maverick can outrun them, and only he can actually kill them barehanded" Jackie said.

"After that well, I made it to a crater, I ran as fast as possible, but in the end I was surrounded by Amata's team, when I swear I was dead, this blue light came down and the rest is history, most of it anyways, I made my way here, hid in the trash of the first floor, and I heard Amata, on the trash I found a stealth-boy, it helped me sneak into this place and heard about you being here, that gave me an idea"

"Let me guess, capture me, becoming a hero to the vault, and sparing your life" Maverick said, "Well I can say it would have worked if the bitch with the robes hadn't got around" Jackie added, "So your part responsible for the dwellers being here" Sarah added.

"Not that I wanted, but in any case" Jackie said, "Look I just want a place to lay low, a place where I can be safe, I want to live and form a family you know, and I can do that with a bullet in my head or being a pile of ash or green goo" Jackie confessed, "In exchange I will give the brotherhood the edge the need, the overseer's terminal was connected remotely to an high Enclave terminal, I downloaded a lot of info, trust me on this, I am high on the hit list of the Enclave, only comparable to Maverick here, he is to be killed on sight as well, and let news of his 'capture' out, to lure his father out" Jackie added, there Maverick frowned at that.

"Is because of Project Purity…Amata mentioned it, but I don't really know what it is" Maverick mentioned, Jackie simply scoffed, "Trust me on this, Project Purity, if works, will be either the salvation or the doom of the wasteland in general" Jackie stated.

"How?" Maverick wondered, "Is a massive water purifier, built in the Jefferson Memorial, your dad, and your mom built it, to purify millions of gallons of rancid, irradiated full of muck water into potable, drinkable water, this will cause a shift of power, in the past, armies formed empires and held nations, now water does that, you have a water purifier, then a town will grow and prosper around it" Sarah explained.

"Yep, and you really don't want to know what they will do during the activation of the purifier, if they are able to" Jackie said.

"So…that means…" Maverick began, "Yep, you're a wastelander made a vault dweller, then against turned loose to the wasteland…now that is something to think about" Sarah said, not actually believing that Vault 101 had so readily accepted Maverick's father and Maverick for that matter, if what he had been telling was to be believed, it meant he had lived inside the vault all his life, 19 years.

It matched the time Project Purity was abandoned.

This was no coincidences, she didn't believed on those things, but so far good things had been falling to her lap, besides the gun and armor, she had very important information about enclave plans, if Jackie was led to believe, this could, in turn, turn the tide of the war easily.

Besides the fact that the first person she saw in this god forsaken place was perhaps stronger than a Overlord and was willing to help her also make her believe that either her overall luck was finally improving, or that Maverick was just too damn lucky and whatever spare luck he has is shared with those around him, is the only explanation that so far no one has died, no one allied to them that is, Paul Hansson Jr. and every other critter around being the exception.

"In any case, I want help, and you two can provide it, I'll give you all the info of the pip-boy, hell I'll give you my pip-boy if you need I, I just…I just want to live" Jackie stated sadly.

"As everyone here lady" Sergeant Johnson said, he, like the rest had heard the conversation, "You want to live?" he asked, pulling a .45 out, and aiming it to Jackie, Maverick was about interfere when Johnson flipped the gun and now the grip was aiming at her.

"You better pull your weight lady, you are among the best and the meanest mankind had to offer in its time, we are busting out, and we are going to fuck everything in our path, you're in?" Johnson had his answer when Jackie loaded the gun and smirked.

"You better be able to keep the pace old man" she exclaimed as she joined the literal mob of people ready to move away.

It didn't took them less than a minute for the group to be organized and already outside the core room, the only one remaining was Maverick, holding a rocket launcher.

Taking a deep breath and kneeling, Maverick aimed the rocket launcher and steadied his aim, then he fired.

The missile by all intents was slow, yet for someone who was on the receiving end on a rocket, it would move awfully fast, and then slows down just inches of your body.

To Maverick the missile traveled slow, but with enough momentum to pierce the glass cover and blow a freaking hole on a side of the reactor, immediately he began to sweat as heat basically poured out of the hole of the reactor.

It wasn't until he saw the upper part right of his HUD light on, a red bar indicating that he was on a irradiated area and he was being slowly irradiated that he reacted, tossing the rocket launcher he made a mad sprint towards the door the others had used to leave, primal fear making him run like hell.

Back in the vault, you were educated to respect the power of the overseer and to fear radiation, of course one lesson remained on Maverick, fear the radiation, and he feared it, mostly because he had already see what it had done to the world and its inhabitants.

Reaching the door, such door opened automatically, Sally on the other side, once Maverick was inside, Sally closed the door, leaving the core room to be irradiated in deadly radiation.

"God…you never told me I would get irradiated!" Maverick snapped at Sally, "Sorry, but don't worry, your body will eat that radiation away, and use it to make you slightly stronger, temporally of course, like a reactor" Sally said, only to yelp when Maverick lifted her by the cuff of her jacket and carried her away, all the way Sally screaming obscenities and demanding to be put down.

Once they reached the group, he put Sally down, and marched forward, taking the front of the human like caravan.

"Okay, are you ready?" Sarah asked, having seen Maverick basically carrying Sally like a sack of ammo, without care, unless it's filled with mini-nukes.

"Yeah, just harassing Sally for not telling me that I would get irradiated after blowing up the reactor and then dropping the bomb that I will use that radiation as extra fuel to kill things" Maverick stated.

"Ugh…just what we needed, a super strong human walking reactor" she said with a smirk.

"Don't remind me…anyway, everyone ready!" Maverick yelled, everyone behind him gave a loud yell, signaling they were indeed ready to join him in their great escape.

"Okay, everything that doesn't look human is blasted away, Elliot, Maria, you two will be alongside Charon and keep the kids and Sandra escorted, no one stays behind you heard? No one will stay behind in this hellhole!" that was enough to fire everyone up.

"Okay, LET'S ROLL!"

And with that the human caravan moved away, spear-heading the caravan a man who would set things straight for everyone, including himself.

Dammed those who would stand in his way.

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><p>The nerve, it was a fitting name, all things considering, the central control room, where all activities and security was controlled form a secure and high place.<p>

Amata could only smirk as she moved one of the alien corpses away of the massive consoles, the poor fools, not even armed or prepared for an attack from behind.

Yet again, during their way towards The Nerve, she had lost five dwellers, fools who got distracted and now lay as piles of ash on the halls, well four of them were piles of ash, the fifth one was unfortunate enough to cross the path of a Deathclaw, guts and blood and all kind of crap now lay on the ground where his cadaver lay, and the Deathclaw actually eating that which it could.

Amata's smirk melted into pain as her ribs painfully reminded her that a still hungry Deathclaw roaming the halls of the space-station was the least of the dangers around.

Maverick being on the forefront of those dangers, a Deathclaw you could kill, tame, cut its overgrown nails and even raise one, but what to do against an idealistic super human that was dead bent on changing things?

Maverick, ever since she knew him, had always aimed to change things, even inside the vault, he and his father always trying something to change the monotony inside it, didn't they realized that they were disturbing the peace and sanctity of the vault?

True she had helped as well, a phase her father told her once she got her senses, but the fact is that she helped, she helped the tragedy of vault 101 to unfold, if she hadn't helped him escape, nothing of this wouldn't happened, all would be fine and dandy, he would have lured his father, his father captured, would have helped them to start project purity, and then…then all their problems would be over.

Instead now her actions had built a monster, a literal one, a machine built only for death, death and destruction.

With a hiss, Amata kicked the orange alien corpse, breaking some ribs and making her own ribs to hurt as well, not to mention her belly, she was still sore after her battle against Maverick, if you could call it a battle, more like Maverick laughing at her feeble attempts of hurting him and then he using her as his personal punching bag.

"_If it wasn't for the NEMEAN implant I would have internal bleeding and ruptured organs" _she thought to herself, in fact she very experimental NEMAM sub-dermal implant was the only thing that had saved her, not the alien experiments, it was that, simple as breathing, and she knew that those two shots she took at him were a mistake, not only because it riled him up and made a point, but because of how the DIAMOND implant worked.

The DIAMOND implant worked in basically making the skin as thick as humanly possible, without breaking the flexible skin, it sounds easy, but in fact is not, like a diamond, which atomic structure is dense, really dense and close knitted, so much that before the Great War, diamond bladed saws were used for medical or industrial incursions, not to mention that a diamond is hard, very hard, actually requiring another diamond to actually put a scratch on one, that speaks volumes of its hardness.

Of course, like everything in life, it can be destroyed, broken, smashed, but only those who know how to can accomplish this.

The DIAMOND implant worked with that principle, making the skin hard on areas which present a significant trauma, like a gunshot, just upon impact, the nerves send impulses to the brain, which in turn are caught as well by the implant, this is where the scientific part comes in, truth to be told, the only thing she caught up of the dead professor Pascal before his disappearance was that a very abnormal nervous system was required so the implant could work well, as this had to be performed in less than nano-seconds, before the bullet could pierce the skin.

No normal human being could fit this description, until Maverick came and got his spine replaced by a cybernetic one, basically hay-wiring his nervous system, making him think and act faster than any other person.

With a grunt she looked at the remaining vault dwellers, her squad, working on some consoles.

"I want cameras and turrets poised to kill everything but us!" Amata snapped at the group, "Is not that easy you know, I don't even know what I'm doing…I think I tampered with the oxygen supply"

"Shove it Jackson" Amata snapped, looking at another dweller, "Bad news boss, it seems someone got ahead of us and damaged the core, the thing is that damaging the core caused all energy to be diverted to doors, artificial gravity and life support"

Amata glared at the female dweller that had just spoken, "Meaning?" Amata asked, already knowing the answer.

"The turrets, all of them are now offline, also any contention cells and unopened cryo-stasis pods are opening…we are talking about a big mess" the female dweller replied.

"We don't have control of anything?" Amata snapped/asked, "We have control of the cameras and robots which I deactivated, but only that, that orange alien must had some special codes to control the doors, but since he is dead" the female dweller let that thought drift off, making Amata narrow her eyes.

"Dammit, this means Paul didn't make it" Butch stated, "Zip it DeLoria, I don't care about him" Amata said, making Butch cringe, but accept nonetheless, after all Paul had been one of his friends, the fact he hadn't returned with the girls meant that he had died.

Another one to chalk it up to Maverick and his father, "I'm starting to get irritated, a war with the Brotherhood of Steel hasn't yield any casualties to us, but ever since we tried to take down Jackie and ever since we crossed paths with Maverick we have lost half of our original numbers" Amata snapped, her voice raising a lot in the last part of her sentence.

As for those inside, she was right, the war didn't put dents on their ranks, more considering the training they got and the superior equipment, but Jackie's escape had cost them ten guys because she lured them near Deathclaw territory, and after they got kidnapped no one knew what happened to Butch's grandfather and Paul Sr. Amata could confirm that Wally was dead, surely by the hands of Maverick, alongside Paul Jr. not to mention the five guys they lost on their way to the nerve.

Overall, this has been the very first time she has seen people die, her people, and she didn't like it one bit.

All this was making them look like amateurs, they had coordinated ambushes against BOS soldiers and Super Mutants with ease, true they got hurt, but they never had reported a KIA, until today.

"I want Maverick found! I want his fuckin head on a pike and the last thing he sees in life is how I kill everyone on that ragtag group of survivors" Amata snapped, that made everyone work double-time to find Maverick and company, they had learned that and angry Amata is a dangerous Amata.

"I found them" one of the dwellers said, Amata immediately made a beeline towards the console of the dweller, the screen on such console displaying the image, much to Amata's annoyance of at least fifty humans, all dressed in different clothes of different eras, all wielding weapons of all kind.

But what made Amata really angry was who was spear-heading this 'caravan'

Maverick and Sarah Lyons.

Amata brought her hand down the console, slamming it and leaving a dent in the metal.

"I should have shoot him in the head and be done with it!" Amata snapped angrily, only to realize that it wouldn't have helped much either, the DIAMOND implant must have made his skin in general bulletproof, and if given the case the bullet would pierce the skin, it had to content also with muscle and then the thickened bone.

"Can you tell their current location and destination?" Amata asked, "Well…I can see they are taking a direct route to a very transited intersection, like our atrium, this one connects to everywhere in the space-station, my best believe, they will turn to the left, heading to the hangars, there is a ship, one big ship that is currently without aliens on board" the female dweller said, her red short hair tied on a bun.

"And that little twerp must know how to pilot it" Amata hissed, "But, I got something as well, there is something…or someone standing in the hangars, there is no cameras there, so I don't know what is there, but is there, and according to this console…it has orders to kill everything non-alien that tries to board that flying saucer" the female dweller said.

"Good work Matilda, locate us an alternative escape route, I don't want to cross them" Amata said, "I don't know, we could easily ambush them and kill them" one of the dwellers said, making Amata snort, "I won't take any more chances, we lost fifteen people already, with four more MIA, I won't risk anymore on this unfamiliar territory, if we get Maverick and Lyons, it will be on our land" Amata stated.

"Finally ate your pride Almodovar?" Butch asked, making Amata to sneer at him, "Your pride and overconfidence nearly cost you your life, hadn't I came the moment I did, Maverick would have actually killed you, not only that, your want for those children cost me one of my friends, two of them if what I think of Wally happened, not to mention my grandfather, all this for your pride, wanting to find Maverick, all because of your pride" Butch snarled, not even intimidated by the gun aimed at him by Amata.

"All loses of this war Butch, all loses of this war, remember it soldier, they are acceptable loses" Amata snapped.

"Say that Paul's mom, tell that to Wally's sister, tell that to my dad" Butch snapped, turning around and pulling his switchblade, slowly running the blade around the metal of the walls.

Amata tsk'ed at Butch's words, simply turning her attention to Matilda.

Amata thoughts were still centered on Maverick, but on how she would stop him after he reach the Capital Wasteland, after all here she has no army to command, but down there, down there.

The world bows to her.

"Amata!" Matilda yelled, catching Amata's attention, "Something is approaching the space-station, something as big as the ship docked on the hangars" Matilda stated, making Amata narrow her eyes, "ETA?"

"22 minutes" Matilda replied.

"Then let's make sure we are not here when they arrive, leave the positions, let's leave towards our escape" her order was followed by all leaving the consoles and marching away of the room, only she and Butch remained inside.

"Once we make it to Raven's Rock, you and I will have a long chat with Coronel Autumn about this" Butch stated, "He'll never believe this, neither Eden, let's just say this was mission gone wrong, lured to Deathclaw territory, barely made it out alive, Jackie worked under orders of Maverick"

"That's bullshit, I know it, Autumn will know it, Eden will know it" Butch stated, "They won't, they want Maverick as I do, for different reasons, but they want him, just like his dad, he holds the key for Project Purity, and after they are done with him, I will have him for me to do what I want, whenever I want" Amata snapped.

"And what would you want to do with him?" Butch asked, genuinely wondering what she would do to Maverick once she gets him.

"Simple" Amata began, turning to Butch, "The same thing he did to me when he killed Marcus and nearly destroyed the vault" she said, eyes now burning with utter ire, making Butch take a step back.

"I will rip his heart out!"

* * *

><p>"Keep running!"<p>

"My god! This is a warzone!"

"Just like Anchorage!"

"Perhaps American pig, but even there the enemy didn't look like a reanimated corpse!"

"Quit the chatter soldiers! Blast 'em!" Sarah ordered, her Tommy laser gun turning to ash another feral ghoul, turning to her right she nearly had a seizure when she saw a Yao Guai advancing at the Japanese samurai, Toshiro, only go eye wide when Toshiro side-stepped out of the way of the mutated bear and cleanly beheaded the beast.

"Okay, this is just plain ridiculous!" Sally snapped, her plasma gun already overheating for shooting so many times, cursing she tossed another spent energy cell and replaced it with a new one.

"We are not making progress!" Maverick snapped, punting another ghoul away as he held the Twin Boom on one hand, and on the other he held an actual glowing ghoul by the neck.

The deafening sound of guns being fired on repetition, the fall of each empty case of ammo, discarded clips, yells and curses, wails and grunts, the children kept themselves in a tight circle, adults surrounding them and firing at whatever that looked non-human.

"I clearly underestimated the situation!" Sally exclaimed, "So, we change plans?" Maverick asked, finally crushing the neck of the glowing ghoul, then without looking, blasting the face of a Reaver with the Twin Boom, point-blank.

The group had made their way towards the intersection, that had been, as Sally had said before, the easy part, of course, much to Sally's shock, they didn't encountered any sort of resistance, at all, but when they reached intersection, they found out why.

All the aliens where holed up together, making some desperate stand against the horde of creatures they had captured, true their weapons gave them an edge, and everyone could see the inertia fields personally, some sort of grey dotted field that surrounded the alien bodies like a second skin and basically reduced the damage, and could be also deployed as a barricade.

The thing was that not even all the technology in the world could prepare the aliens for the onslaught of all the things they had done.

To Sarah, it was karma at its best, you reap what you sow, or in more rough terms, karma is a bitch.

The horde of combined ghouls, mutated fauna of the Capital Wasteland and god knows where else and even crazy raiders on their underwear, dirty, bloody underwear, had already overwhelmed many of the alien defenders, this was both good and bad.

Good because they wouldn't deal with the dammed eggheads, bad because they had counted at least three Deathclaws on the horde, Deathclaws they would need to deal, not to mention the green bug like things that Veronica said were Cazadores, to Sarah they looked like the big brother of a bloatfly.

In any case, soon the good news died, and the bad news began to pour in like a damn tidal wave, or so the saying goes.

True, energy weapons, especially the aliens carbine like weapons had an edge against anything that shot bullets, but only a dozen of those weapons can hardly do a dent against a literal army, but she had to remind herself, a dozen of aliens, even with shields, don't match against fifty pissed people ad armed to the teeth.

"COME GET SOME!" she heard Maverick snarl, seeing how he basically used the glowing ghoul as a makeshift mallet and started to slam him against every single thing that didn't seemed human.

"I'm starting to get annoyed!" Sarah heard Veronica over the cacophony of noises, looking behind her, she saw the brotherhood scribe punching another Cazador, not far off her, Charon blasting one of them as well with his new shotgun, no matter how big and scary those bugs are, nothing can still hope to match a shotgun shot point-blank in terms of damage and carnage.

Well maybe Maverick with a ripper.

In any case the shoot-out continued, the hail of bullets continued to rain without any sort of rest, and the corpses continued to pile up.

"We need to push onward!" Han exclaimed, tossing a fresh clip to his Chinese rifle, "With this amount of things…is like seeing the trogs all over again, maybe with an auto axe!" Sandra yelled, her body covering Marie, the baby's ears covered in makeshift ear muffins.

Sally had similar ideas, pushing onwards was the only thing that they could do now, no turning back, but they couldn't push against this literal tide, not even with Maverick they could push the whole length.

But she didn't come this far without a contingency plan.

"Maverick! I need you to make a push to that door!" Sally began, pointing a door on the left of the hall; at least ten meters of the group, "And hold the line while I get everyone inside!" Maverick nodded, already finding the means to make a push.

A Super Mutant, another overlord class, if Sarah was right, big, ugly, well uglier she said compared to the other Super Mutants, without weapons, yet killing ghouls left and right.

Maverick slung the Twin Boom to his back and swatted a pair of ghouls out of his way, mere inches separated him of the overlord, but the beast was so focused on killing the weak ghouls attacking that it never noticed Maverick until he tapped it's shoulder, when the Overlord turned to attack, Maverick rammed his left fist with all his strength to the Overlord's neck, knowing beforehand of the beast thick skin.

The Overlord let out a bloody gurgle as Maverick's fist found home on his throat, as for Maverick he could basically feel the spine of the Overlord regardless of the obstruction of the windpipe and muscle tissue.

With a roar he brought his right hand hard on the Overlord's exposed stomach, piercing the skin with his fist and having both of his hands stuck on the beast, as for the Overlord, it was already dead, a horrible death that Sarah knew, Gallows would we proud off.

Maverick, with his fists rammed on the beast, then lifted it, like a makeshift meat wall, and began to advance, every second pushing the body onwards roughly, anything on the path of the meat wall that was the Overlord was met with brutal force, anyone who had paid attention to this, namely Sarah and Sally, could see that even some of the ghouls were now dead, apparently the unarmored kind of ghoul were not fit to meet an Overlord, even if dead.

"MOVE!" Sarah commanded, now that they could see they were advancing, the large group could now leave the four way intersection, now focusing their strength on front and back, mostly back, most of the critters that were attacking them for a meal were not keen on letting them go that easily.

Maverick was able to make a push to the door Sally had mentioned; there he began to use the remains of the Overlord to keep the ghouls at bay, he had it easy, considering that those attacking the caravan from behind looked like the reason why humans don't inbreed anymore, and you throw radiation to the mix makes it worse.

Sally immediately make a dash to the door near Maverick, then opened it with ease, "COME ON! OVER HERE!" her scream caught the attention of the escapees who immediately began to make a beeline towards the door, in pair of two the group entered until only Maverick and Sarah remained outside, Sarah basically turning all thing mutated into ash and Maverick keeping the ghouls at bay.

"Move it you two!" Veronica screamed, that was the cue for both Maverick and Sarah, the sentinel elbowed Maverick and motioned him to follow her, all while ach other covered the backs of the other, Sarah was the first inside, followed by Maverick, there he kept the body of the overlord making sure many ghouls and those strange human looking mutants at bay, then he rose his leg and kicked the body, the blow freed him of the overlord corpse and crushed anything behind it against a wall.

With that released, Sally closed the door, immediately the ghouls that remained tried to open the door via their fists, but Sally would have none of it, ripping a nearby panel, Sally began to rips some cables, then connect them to another area, everyone saw how the door, after Sally's tinkering, gained the same shield like appearance that the alien's shields.

"That should hold them" Sally said, "Okay, now follow me, we'll go through plan b" she said, immediately everyone thought the same.

"_Plan b?"_

"Plan b? Sally" but only Julia voiced her discomfort of her little sister holding some secrets, especially a secret plan.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I needed a contingency plan in case we were unable to make the push, I'm glad I made it" Sally mentioned to her sister, "I counted with the generator releasing the subjects and giving us a wide breath to escape, I didn't counted however in those subjects on making it out before us" Sally began, her words not falling on deaf ears, "Remind me to beat Amata to a pulp for that Maverick" Sarah whispered to the wandered of 101 who was cleaning his hands of the blood of the Overlord in his pants.

"With that in mind" Sally began, making her way to a nearby console, "I got us here intentionally" She began, her fingers nimbly working on the console, "I wanted us to make a beeline towards the hangar, that was plan a because we would use the distraction of so many critters around so the aliens would be focused on then rather than us" she continued, "But thanks to those vault dwellers, plan a went down the drain, so I decided to work on plan b" she said, "or as I like to call it, plan tram" she said as she finalized working on the console, immediately one of the nearby walls began to move away, making everyone to panic, but panic became awe when they saw that instead of seeing more aliens of a hidden lab, they saw a hi-tech looking wagon stationed, big enough for all of them.

"This is plan b, a more direct, yet not so stealth like way to make it to the hangar" Sally said, "Plan A was stealth?" Sarah asked with a bemused smile.

"It was, considering that the aliens would be working on containing their own experiments" sally said, making Sarah and Maverick remember the abominations.

"In any case, once we board this and activate it, we will only take five minutes to reach the hangar, but we will be on plain sight of everyone, aliens included, so we better expect a welcoming party once we reach the hangar" Sally said.

"Well, sure as hell beats wasting ammo on those freaks" Johnson stated, "I say go for it" Elliot added, "I'm not too keen on riding that fancy…whatever the hell that is" Paulson said, only to have his hat nearly beaten down of his head by his wife who obviously wanted to ride the fancy wagon.

"I'm all for it Sally, just try not to keep this as a secret, like the fatc I can absorb radiation and get stronger by it!" Maverick snapped, making Sally roll her eyes.

"I don't see the problem; down there you will be like a god in irradiated areas"

"Is not the point…oh forget about it" Maverick said, making his way towards the wagon, Sally following him closely, a worried look on his face.

As the last person boarded the wagon, Sally activated it, immediately the doors behind the wagon closed, and the wagon came to life, slowly moving onwards, but picking speed.

Toshiro and Paulson could compare it as riding a chariot or a train in Paulson's case, but nothing could compare to the visage that came once they left the darkness of the exit tunnel.

Every single person, no exception was awed upon the sight of Earth, while many there remember Earth a little more blue and green, no one could deny that seeing their planet, even in its decayed state, was an awe-inspiring sight, even more considering how small it looked from where they were standing.

"It's…beautiful" Veronica breathed out, "I have never seen a sight that can compare to this" Jackie murmured in awe.

"Gotta admit, surely distracts the children" Paulson stated, looking how the girls and his boy looked at the big ol' blue in awe, alongside the stars.

Well all but Sally who walked to Maverick and nudged him to follow her to the front of the wagon, which was mostly empty.

"Maverick" Sally began, looking up front, "You don't like people who keep secrets don't you" she stated as a matter of fact, catching the enhanced human off-guard, he would have retorted, if it wasn't for the fact that she was right.

With a sigh he leaned on the wall of the wagon, crossing his arms, and looking at her, "Is not that I hate you, for those three things you conveniently forgot to tell me" Maverick began.

"Small things, they slipped my mind, honest mistakes" Sally defended.

"I know, I shouldn't have reacted like I did, and I'm sorry, is just that…is just that-" Maverick said, looking at the girl.

"My life so far has been a big fat lie" he stated, "I wasn't born in the vault like I was led to believe, I was born in the wasteland, somehow my dad was able to get us inside a vault, where everyone I know…maybe all the adults lied to me and the rest outright, hell I saw files where the vault was reported opened several times, then I come here and I find out more lies, not to mention that one lie cost the life of a friend of my dad, Jonas, so yes I hate to be lied" Maverick said in a tired tone.

"But I shouldn't be taking it against you" he added to the little girl, "True you lied to me, but you assumed everything would be right, is just…it irks me alright, that reminds me of that feeling back in vault 101, I was afraid, so alone for the first time in my life, I didn't like it" Maverick confessed, much to Sally's surprise.

They remained silent for a good minute, for all her intelligence, Sally really didn't know what to do at this point, she tried to talk, but nothing would come out.

Maverick by his part turned to the little and silent girl, with a sigh he walked to her, and padded her head, "Don't fret about it, when you think about it, I shouldn't get mad at you for what you did" Maverick said, turning around and walking away.

"You're not alone" Sally stated finally, finding the courage to talk, that caught Maverick's attention, "You said it, back in the vault you felt alone…I felt the same…for over two hundred years" Sally began, making him blink.

"I was afraid, but I knew if I kept trying…if I kept trying…I would stop being alone, and afraid" she stated.

"Then you came…and I can say…it was worth it…all that time waiting, trying, planning, it was worth it" Sally mentioned, "Now tell me something…once you return to Earth, once you find your dad, once you stop the Enclave and help Sarah…would you come with your father whenever I am currently…so I can stop being alone?" she asked softly, Maverick simply smiled, reached for her and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.

"You're not alone either, you got your sister…and who knows, dad would surely love to meet you, he would usually say that he always wanted a girl, something among the lines of 'being able to spoil them rotten' or something like that" he mentioned, making Sally giggle.

But the moment was cut off when the wagon shook, and several green like flames erupted of several areas around the wagon tram.

"The hell" Maverick swore, not knowing what the explosions meant, but Sally did, reason why she looked shocked.

"No" she hissed, looking at Maverick with a shocked look, "Sally, didn't you said we half thirty minutes until the explosions truly began?" he asked, knowing everyone was now looking at them, especially Sally in expectance.

"Must be those dwellers, they must have planted explosives on the reactor base, is the only way I can explain the early explosions!" Sally stated, her panicked look made everyone actually want to know what this meant; they still had fifteen minutes according to her.

"The rate of the explosions, and the violence means that they planted explosives in the base of the core, that alone with the damage Maverick had already dealt has cut us of precious time…I say we have twelve minutes…"

**BOOM!**

Green smoke rose out of a part outside the space-station, visible to all, even more when they saw aliens and creatures alike being sucked to the vacuum of space.

"Okay, make it ten minutes" she corrected herself, making all to stare at her with horrified looks.

"Can we make it with ten minutes?" Paulson asked to Sally, a question that all wondered, "Yeah, but we will be making it just barely" she stated, eyes focused on the doors of the wagon, Maverick understood what she was worried about, it was not time, they could make it, what she was worried was any obstacles in their way, they couldn't stop for no one if they lagged behind.

"Okay then, Jackie, give me your left arm, Sarah the pip-boy of Wally, now" Maverick commanded to the girls, instantly both women gave him what he wanted, Jackie was about to tell him what was he about to do when he pulled her connection cable of her pip-boy and attached it to the one Sarah had on her hands.

"Listen to me all, Sarah and I will open a path to you to pass, don't wait us" Maverick commanded, Elliot and Johnson were about to reply back when Sarah turned to them, "He is right, we are better armed and combat ready against anything the aliens might have against us, besides we are faster, don't look at me like that, you can run really fast with a power armor on, if configured to do so" Sarah added, making all slightly nod, but not wanting to go with their plan.

"Besides…I always wanted to try a Gronak like escape" Maverick said with a smirk, only Sally and Julia got what he meant, "Issue 24, Gronak vs the mighty red horde, Gronak the barbarian stays behind and allows all the prisoners on the lair of the red horde to escape while he stays and fights what seems a doomed battle" Sally stated, "Personally I always liked La Phantoma, more realistic"

Sally smirked as Maverick pouted at that, but he of course, like Sarah, looked at her oddly when she reached from behind Sarah, opened a panel behind Sarah's power armor and began to tinker with it.

"Uh…Sally…I don't think I have the time for this" Sarah stated, Sally simply ignored her, placing two glowing white cells in the panel, replacing what seemed a fission battery, then closing the panel.

"Okay, I tinkered your armor a little, I see the coils reduced damage by laser and plasma weapons, but to a lower scale, so I decided to amp it, I added two white alien cells on the armor, a little too much to outright deflect lasers, as for plasma, well it should reduce the damage considerably, also with the extra energy I was able to boost the hydraulics of your armor, you won't be as strong as Maverick, but it will be enough to punch a hole in anything alive, and move even better" Sally stated, looking at the duo that had stumbled with her when she was about to be killed by the Overlord.

"Listen, we will try to wait for you if you lag with the aliens, but if you don't make it to the mothership there is another ship, is a small craft, it is used by the aliens to make recon flies to Earth, right now there is no extra radiation that could cause a crash like the last three, but please be careful" Sally said, looking at both with some apprehension.

"Oh you're not going alone you know" Veronica piped in, "I didn't make it here just to see you two make some heroic last stand or something like that" she added, "Besides I'm sure one more will tip the balance to your favor" she added quickly, making Maverick and Sarah to smile.

"Okay…sister" Sarah stated, making Veronica all but smile a smile that could basically blind everyone.

But the happy mood suddenly began to dwindle down as the wagon began to slow down, reminding all that they were still in danger.

Maverick tensed up, holding the Twin Boom hard, Sarah was on a near identical state, tense and ready for anything, Veronica simply tightened her displacer glove on her right hand, eyes narrowed.

Then the doors opened and Maverick bolted fast to them, and like Sally had predicted, there was something waiting for them, but it wasn't an alien or one of the shock units.

The only way anyone could describe it could be a desfigurated giant of a man, easily seven feet tall, Sarah decided that as big an average Super Mutant, the only clothes he had on seemed to be a skirt made of red leather and strips, that was the only thing he was wearing, and his face, torn apart, he was missing a chunk of his nose, both of his ears, his lips were full of cracks and scars, and so his face, his right cheek sported a nasty chemical burn, while the other was pure muscle, no skin visible in that place.

"God almighty" the charge of Sarah and Veronica was cut short as they heard the two NCR soldiers stare in utter fear at the visage of the man.

Sarah found this odd, so far the pair know as Michael and Solo hadn't show any kind of fear, even against the ghouls, but just seeing this guy was making them wet their fatigues.

"Is…" Michael began, his pale skin becoming, if possible, paler.

"The monster of the east, Legate Lanius" Solo hissed, his weapon rose at the imposing figure of the 'monster of the east' whoever this man was.

"The who?" Sarah and Veronica asked at the same time Maverick actually tackled the giant of a man, only to see in shock as in only moved him some inches, then the giant grabbed him by the waist and tossed him like a ragdoll to a wall, leaving a dent where Maverick impacted, the Twin Boom discarded during Maverick's flight.

Maverick looked slightly shocked at this, but not more that Sally, "Oh crap, is the one I spoke off, the guy with the extreme procedures…MOW HIM DOWN!" Sally's scream was punctuated when she pulled her plasma pistol and began to fire at the monster of the east, each plasma shot leaving a blackened spot on the skin.

Her reaction was mimicked by all that began to fire at the giant, much to their shock and horror, bullets, even the .45 and magnum rounds bounced of his heavily scared skin, and laser and plasma rounds did only to leave blackened skin.

The fact that Lanius seemed invulnerable to bullets and plasma and laser rounds left them mute in shock, but shock became fear when they saw him advance at them…

"OOOFFFFFF!"

Only for the massive man to stagger when Maverick fly kicked him on the ribs, hard, the impact resounded on the area, Maverick simply assumed a stance as he turned to the spooked escapees.

"What are you waiting for, and invitation? RUN!" he bellowed, rushing towards the recovering Lanius and delivering a powerful right hook to the face of Lanius, putting his weight on it, Lanius staggered even more at this, but was able to backhand Maverick away with such an ease that made many feel fear after seeing this.

With Maverick words fresh on their minds, the group began to run away, making their way towards the hangar, it seemed that Lanius didn't want this and began to follow them, nearly catching Toshiro and Somah if it wasn't for Maverick suddenly wrapping his arms on the waist of Lanius and forcing all his weight backwards, making Lanius skull to meet the ground in a perfectly executed German Suplex.

Releasing Lanius, Maverick made some distance of him, looking at the gigantic man and how he easily stood up, not even wincing in pain after such impact.

"This is going to get ugly" Maverick said to himself looking for the Twin Boom, when raw strength fails, there is always the alternative of a mean gun.

Dashing, Maverick barley dodged the sweep of Lanius, ducking and then making a slide on the smooth metal floor, the surface allowing him to do this, and with ease grab The Twin Boom, then he turned, and saw Lanius already standing before him, in panic Maverick pressed the trigger without aiming, the overpowered round easily did what the other rounds did not, piercing Lanius skin.

The giant of a man staggered after such impact, a bloody hole on his left shoulder, yet Maverick could only stare in shock because while the rounds did pierce the skin and opened a bloody hole on both skin and muscle, the rounds were flattened on the now visible bone.

Maverick tried to fire another round but Lanius had already seized the barrel of the Twin Boom and had bended the steel of the gun with ease, then ripped it of Maverick's hands and slammed it brutally on Maverick's face, making the lone rouge of vault 101 to fly to a wall.

Stunned, but alive, Maverick looked just to see Lanius slam the Twin Boom to the ground, breaking it apart; Maverick just gave the monster of the east a hating look, "It took me half an hour to make that gun you jerk!" Maverick snapped, walking towards Lanius with all the intention of hurting him.

Lanius didn't seem to care, but was prepare to fight, what he wasn't prepare however was for maverick to suddenly start outright running and jumping at him, fist poised to slam on his face, this similar move made Lanius hesitate, that cost him.

Maverick slammed his fist on Lanius face with all he got, the added weight, momentum and strength behind the blow actually made Lanius to fly a little then crash hard on the unforgiving floor.

Now on the ground Maverick had the advantage over Lanius, rushing to Lanius he suddenly kicked the exposed sides of the giant, like kicking a ball, Lanius was lifted again of the ground but Maverick found odd that he didn't heard bones breakings after that vicious blow.

Rushing again to Lanius to deliver another bone shattering kick, Maverick was surprised in how fast Lanius stood up, and rammed his elbow on Maverick's face, basically stopping Maverick's charge and sending him tumbling to the ground with his own momentum.

On the ground Maverick began to recover, just to yelp when Lanius grabbed him by the leg and began to slam him like a ragdoll over the metallic walls, each time harder than the other.

The escapees could only hear the sounds of the battle at the far, many were worried because the sounds of the battle were getting louder and closer, Sarah by her part kept her cool, this was the soldiers could do, keep their cool at the moment, because if they lost it, so would the others.

Of course the two NCR soldiers, Michael and Solo were really scared of that man, Lanius if they had heard correctly, Legate Lanius, obviously the first part of his name was his rank, apparently this guy was Legion as well, like Decanus Severus, and perhaps on Amata's orders, perhaps.

Soon the group reached the hangar, and the only word they could think was huge, really big.

Sarah compared the size of the hangar to that of two citadel courtyards length, and easily three times taller than the citadel itself, the ceiling of the hangar held two strange rods that emitted yellow energy and held in place a massive engine that was as big as Liberty Prime's torso.

Sarah also saw several catwalks, most of them filled with alien corpses by some reason, alongside crates filled with alien tech, mostly weapons, cells and epoxy lying around, not to mention the ships Veronica had mentioned, they resembled Enclave vertibirds, but using jet propulsion and being more futuristic like and clean looking.

Sarah also spotted several of the shock units Sally spoke off, disabled, not destroyed, that made her frown.

"I…think I am I'm paradise" Somah said with a far off look, "So many machines, all so pretty…all her inner components so ready to be molested by me" she stated, her dream however was cut off when a huge explosion caused everyone to topple down, "Pity we can't stay!" Sarah snapped as she looked at Sally for indications.

"There!" Sally indicated, pointing a catwalk that was filled with alien corpses, even more than usual, down the catwalk were several aliens with broken heads.

"They panicked and tried to escape…they killed themselves" Julia stated, "Not so different now" Johnson said, sneering at the dead aliens.

"Okay…where is Maverick?" Sandra wondered, her answer came when Maverick suddenly emerged out of the hall, flying away and landing on the ground, sliding and rolling on his body, Lanius not far behind, heavy steps indicating that he was indeed heavy for all the augmentations on his body, especially muscle and bone.

Maverick was able to right himself on his back while sliding, and pulled That Gun, aiming to Lanius.

For an average person, shooting like that would been almost impossible, but Maverick had tools to make it possible.

V.A.T.S. it truly a remarkable tool for any Vault dweller who knows how to bring it out at its fullest, with eyes narrowed, Maverick was able to see that he had a perfect chance to shoot Lanius legs and head, then he focused his sight on the two rods that held the alien like engine.

All this happened in less than a nano-second, Maverick already having five solid targets.

Maverick pulled the trigger of That Gun, the first round impacting the right sheen on Lanius and opening a hole on the skin, making him stagger a little, but not stopping him, the second overpowered round impacted on his left kneecap, that one tore through the soft kneecap, the bullet then stopped between the knee junctions, that made Lanius nearly topple, but he was able to right himself.

The third shot was aimed to his head, the bullet was able to push him back and made him lost momentum, enough for Maverick to slam his hands behind him, stopping his sliding altogether, then bringing his feet together, and allowing Lanius to tumble over them, with a yell Maverick pushed Lanius away, lifting the massive frame of the Legate away, now with Lanius in the air Maverick aimed higher, pulling the trigger he fired the last two shots at the rods holding the engine, damaging the rods and causing the field to falter for an instant, that was enough to make the engine to fall over the flying Lanius with a mighty crash, the combined weight of Lanius and the engine causing the metal floor to cave in under their weight.

Maverick panted, seeing how the monster of the east was stopped, if momentarily, standing up he reloaded That Gun and kept it in hand, noticing as well the escapees staring in shock of what he had done, Jackie included.

"Guys, move it!" Maverick snapped, walking to them and slightly pushing them towards anywhere but where Lanius was.

"Sally, guides them to the mothership, I'll catch you all in a few, gotta make sure our friend is…"

"MOVING!" Solo screamed, Maverick turned around and could only stare with wide eyes as Lanius was moving the massive engine away, but with some difficulty.

"Sweet lord, mother of mercy" Maverick said, seeing how Lanius lifted the engine block over his head, "That's impossible, that thing should weight over five tons, the human femur can hold two tons of weight, but is holding it with a damaged knee!" Elliot snapped, assault rifle aimed at Lanius.

"Sally!" Maverick yelled, "I accept suggestions!"

"I got one" Sarah said as she pulled a plasma grenade and lobed it to Lanius feet.

"RUN LIKE HELL!" she bellowed as the device exploited over the feet of Lanius, immediately everyone began to make a mad dash towards the stairs that connected the catwalk to the mothership entrance.

Maverick stayed behind, seeing how the concentrated energy did little to stall Lanius, raising That Gun Maverick fired two rounds, his surprise was evident when the round actually pierced and exited Lanius torso.

"The plasma grenade must have softened his hardened skin, nice" Maverick said as he holstered That Gun and made a mad dash at the still standing Lanius, who was still holding the alien engine over his head.

With a grunt Lanius tried to slam the engine over Maverick's head, but Maverick easily dodged the blow, then with a yell he slammed his fist on the softened flesh of Lanius side, while he didn't hear bones cracking, he heard Lanius grunt in slight pain and stagger.

With the upper hand now, Maverick began to slam his fist on Lanius exposed sides, hard and each one making anyone around to wince with each blow.

The massive man also began to retaliate, but the engine that had fallen over him had actually hurt him enough to make his blows easy to read, Maverick ducked of each blow with ease.

Suddenly Lanius moved too fast, twisting his injured leg in an unholy angle and slamming his other leg in Maverick's chest, sending Maverick flying away towards one of the ships, leaving a dent upon impact.

Lanius then turned around and began to advance at the escapees, but his now unusable leg was impeding his movement, that and turning his back on Maverick was the greatest mistake he would ever make as a mindless drone.

Maverick recovered his senses just seconds after Lanius began to move, looking around he saw the monster of the east making his way slowly to the escapees, very slowly, not even bothering to check if he was still alive or unconscious, Maverick was going to capitalize this chance.

Prying himself out of the ship, Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed the last two shots at Lanius damaged leg.

The two super-sonic bullets, with the already weakened flesh of Lanius found home inside the back of his knee, the first one that is, the second shot actually blew Lanius leg from the knee.

The lack of support on his leg made Lanius fall on his face, turning around on his back, Lanius saw how Maverick reloaded That Gun and aimed it at him, the first round aimed to his right hand, opening a clean hole on the palm of his hand, the second shot met his gut, but didn't made an exit hole, the third one entered his left wrist but didn't went beyond the skin, the fourth and fifth shot were shot at his head, each shot making the back of his head to meet the ground hard every time he rose his sight.

Unable to stand up, Lanius was defenseless against Maverick who twisted his gun around, now holding it by the barrel and exposing the grip, then he slammed the butt of That Gun on Lanius face two times, followed by slamming his foot on his face, making the head meet the ground and leave a dent upon impact, Maverick repeated the process two more times until he was satisfied that Lanius wouldn't stand up at all.

"MAVERICK!" Sarah bellowed from the top of the catwalks, having seen all, "Sally says we have five minutes before this place blows up, leave him and move!" she snapped, Maverick didn't need to be told twice, he holstered That Gun and began to run away, just to look once over his shoulder at the fallen Lanius.

"That…could have been me" he muttered to himself, but then shook his head and made his way to the stairs, reaching Sarah's location at record time, there the sentinel of the brotherhood gave him a nod as he passed her and she covered his back, the woman never gave a second glance to Lanius.

The man was already dead to begin with.

Once both where inside, the door behind them closed with a loud hiss, neither gave it a second glance, they just continued walking until they reached what seemed a bridge or something like that, all the escapees gathering over Sally and Julia, both seated and working on the consoles, nearly everyone had a beautiful view of Earth, and of two ships, one of them looked like a dropship, moving away, the other was a smaller, yet equally intimidating looking space-saucer.

"T-minus 30 seconds for engine ignition" Sally called, "How much we have before this place blows up?" Maverick asked, "3 minutes" Julia called.

"Okay people, find something to hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride, and that dropship better not have aliens inside" Maverick called.

"It doesn't, is filled with humans!" Sally called back, "The dwellers! They left the station just like rats abandon a boat!" Johnson snapped.

"Forget them! We have pressing matter, take us out number 1!" Maverick commanded.

"Aye aye captain!" Sally said, working on the consoles, and then grabbing a pair of joysticks at the sides of her seat, she brought her arms onwards, and the ship followed suit.

The space began to move to them, all while explosions sounded behind them, each one blowing a chunk of the space-station, green balls of fire exiting space alongside aliens and creatures that couldn't enquire the extreme conditions in the vacuum of space, no oxygen, no atmosphere, no heat, anything alive would die a very horrible death, and a quick one also.

"T-minus 1 minute for final detonation!" Sally called, "Put the pedal to the metal Sally, I don't want to be caught in a nova event!" Maverick screamed, the little girl complied, soon the once, small Earth was closer and bigger to them.

"We are in the Exosphere, far away of the station!" Sally said, slowly turning the ship so everyone could see the last moments of the space-station.

Even in the distance they could see the small space-saucer dock in the space-station.

"What they are doing, don't they know that place is going to blow?" Elliot asked, "I don't think so" Sally said.

"That space-station, alongside that ship were the only places the aliens lived, their home planet is like ours currently, they feed on irradiated and toxic water, and is actually perfect for the worms they eat, the arid area is perfect for their rough skin, they were more suited for hot environments, my believe…they were getting ready to eradicate humans of the face of the universe" Sally said, looking how the massive pin size space-station began to lose chunks of itself, chunks that exploited in amazing and catastrophic ways.

"T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2…" Sally called, leaving the one hanging as she held for dear life on one of the consoles, just like everyone else did.

Soon the darkness of space was lit, even if for an instant when the pin shaped space-station exploited in a massive green ball of energy that consumed anything in a 100 km radius, the space-saucer near the station and the station itself were vaporized into oblivion, just like Sally had said.

No one found odd that with such massive explosion, no sound was heard, but those who knew didn't say that in the vacuum of space, no one can hear nothing, not even the screams of the dying.

The silence of the escapees was absolute, no one wanted to ruin the moment they had so long carved for, so many lives had been lost for, they just observed the make-shift funeral pyre for those who lived and died in that space-station, wanting to escape.

Only fifty-five souls made it out alive of that hell, and in reverence, they remained silent for those who died.

"We did it" Maverick whispered, looking at Sarah, the sentinel looked at him with pride, "Yeah we did Maverick, but that was too damn close for my taste" Sarah added.

Soon the silence that had fallen began to be lifted by the cheers of those who had escaped, some cried, some shouted, other laughed and hugged the nearest person.

Maverick, Sarah and veronica however just walked towards where Sally was seated, the little girl leaned on the seat, a tired look on her face.

"…200 years of captivity…of nightmares…it's over…it's finally over" Sally whispered to herself, she didn't jolted when Maverick placed his hand over her shoulder, she just looked upwards and gave Maverick a tired grin, one he returned with a grin of his own.

"You know…for a 200 year old girl…you did well" Maverick said, "For a genetically and surgically enhanced 19 year old kid…you did well" Sally said as well, padding his hand with her own.

"…Now what?" Julia asked to the three people behind her little sister.

"Well, I think the people should remain here, until we can make sure the Enclave won't attack them, and look for that spot the little girl said it was on Oasis, then they can settle I and…try to make a life" Sarah stated, looking at the celebrating people behind them.

"And you three?" Sally asked, "Sarah and I will return to the wasteland, the reason I asked Jackie her pip-boy was to copy all that information and store it on Wally's own, that way Jackie won't have to go down there with us, she will stay here, with the rest, safe" Maverick said, "Besides I have to find my father, maybe I have an idea why he left, this project purity thing, but I want to hear from his mouth" he added, making the girls nod.

"Me? Well, I'll be joining them, my place is down there, I was born there, besides the brotherhood in Sarah's place are far more friendly with those who want to do something for the wasteland, the elders back in Lost Hills will lose a screw once they find out that I joined that chapter and my example will rally others" Veronica said, a serious look on her youthful face.

"Yet I don't hold any kind of fantasy that the High Elders will take this nicely, they will wait until the Enclave is dealt with, and then they will move to try and capture your dad Sarah, and try to eradicate the chapter in the Capital Wasteland up to the last man and woman, so we better be ready when that happens" Veronica finished, making all nod at that.

"Well, I might speak by the three of us when I say I want to sleep, and eat something, I'm not going down there without some rest" Sarah said, Maverick and Veronica rose an eyebrow at her, something she noticed.

"Yeah I know, I was the one who was nagging you all with going back down there ASAP, but let's face it, a tired soldier is of no use down there, besides, we have a whole ship full of alien technology, weapons and medical items included, not to mention weapons of our world, maybe Maverick can cook up something nice to replace the Twin Boom" Maverick tensed at Sarah's words, and so Sally.

"You lost the Twin Boom?" Sally asked, "Eh…uh, well…funny story, it didn't got lost…" Maverick said, taking some steps back of the rising Sally whose face showed nothing else but restrain anger.

"Then how…I pray ask it got lost?" she hissed, "Uh…Lanius grabbed it and broke it in my face" Maverick said fast, but not enough for Sally to not understand.

"MAVERICK I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" the little girl all but snarled, making Maverick to run away of the girl in a way many found comical.

"THAT WAS OUR BEST WORK AND YOU LET IT BE BROKEN!"

"I'm sorry please don't kill me!" Maverick screams became lower as he and Sally ran out of the halls, much to the slight shock and amusement of the escapees.

Of course the duo, being the magnets for oddities, found themselves, after a five minute chase, on a room that held something on some sort of stasis field like tube.

"What is that?" Sally wondered, mounted on Maverick's back and staring at the object in the stasis tube, Maverick wondered the same, all things considered, "Don't know…you don't know either" Sally shook her head, "Is the first time I'm on the mothership" Sally said as she lowered herself of the back of Maverick, and walked to a nearby console.

"Whatever it is, is human made…but the aliens actually modified it heavily…it seems they were interested in the power armors, and this armor in particular held something the aliens were unable to replicate with machines" Sally began.

"And what that might be?" Maverick wondered, "Stealth fields" Sally said, turning the stasis field off, showing to both of them what seemed a pitch black armor, or a very snug looking jumpsuit, the fact the black jumpsuit was human made didn't cut the fact it was modified by the aliens.

"I have never seen something like this ever" Sally stated, "It reminds me of some commercials during the war, short clips of the Anchorage campaign, clips of dead Chinese soldiers, some of them clad in similar armors, but without the plating" Sally said.

"You don't say…did they had a name?" Maverick asked as he approached the modified armor.

"Yeah…the troops called them the Crimson Dragoons" and with those words of Sally, Maverick grabbed the armor, a small smile on his face.

It was high time the aliens did something good with human technology.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there is a wrap people, another chapter done and gone, this marks the end of the lone wanderer stay on space, far more entertaining than in the original DLC, i know i know, the game was good, and so the DLC's, but to some hardcore fans, it needed something more, a little spice, this is my take of that 'spice' i wanted in the game, the last DLC had to end with a massive one man stand against a horde of aliens while covering the escapees and facing a super-genetically and surgically enhanced human or mutant controlled by aliens, leaving death in his or her wake and then escaping with the others.<strong>_

_**I also wanted that Fallout 3 had an ending like the originals Fallout, Fallout 2 and New Vegas, because every action left its mark on the world.**_

_**but we can't get it all can we, that's why we have mods!**_

_**in any case people, read, review and let me know if you want somehting more, i'm taking in consideration something that was said in the reviews.**_

_**beyond that, Be Well!**_


	7. 6: Fearless

_**hello my readers, it is I, Hypn0s! with another chapter of the Chornicles of Maverick!**_

_**now i have been recieving good feedback of the story, it's nice to see this, especially considering that most people waqnt to see progress with other fics i have.**_

_**in any case i won't delay this any longer, here i give you chapter 6 of my story.**_

_**enjoy.**_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 6: FEARLESS<strong>

Sarah slowly opened her eyes, her body felt heavy, remembering that she had went to bed with the ATHENA armor on, and sleeping with a power armor on is not exactly the best way to rest at all, even with a comfortable bed.

Sarah still found amazing that they had found several untouched beds or mattresses to rest, mostly for the children and Maverick, considering he had been the one who had been trashed around by Lanius during their escape.

The sentinel slowly stood up, cranking her neck until she head bones crack on her neck, with a satisfied smile she stood up and began to walk away of the make-shift room, but then returned, kneeling on the bed and pulling out of the bed her Tommy gun and Wally's pip-boy.

Scanning the pip-boy screen, she saw it was 7:30 AM, she slightly smiled at this, it was the very first time, ever since she became a sentinel that she has overslept she usually sleeps until 6:00 AM or doesn't sleeps at all.

With a slight smile she finally exited the room, going to the bridge of the mothership, all while noting the silence around, of course she did noted the hum of the alien machines, but overall the ship was dead, no sounds of anything alive.

When she reached the bridge however, the silence became a cacophony of sounds, mostly metal being bended and other things.

Looking she saw a trail of weapon pieces here and there, alien weapons stripped of anything useful, several empty epoxy syringes, she spotted Elliot overlooking a console, and Somah actually looking down, holding her weight on a rail, shaking her head in amusement.

"Those two" Somah said, seeing Sarah approach her, "Let me guess, Maverick and Sally" Somah nodded, "What they are doing now?" Sarah asked.

"Hell if I know, they took a bunch of weapons they found in storage, mostly broken pieces of guns and some heavy incinerators and .308 rounds, alongside alien rifles and two boxes of epoxy and electronic pieces, and started working on it as soon they woke up, might say they woke up at 4:00 AM, oh, and somehow also found paint" Somah said.

"I say they are working on another Twin Boom" Elliot said out loud, "After all the last one worked just fine, and they had just half an hour to work in it, they gathered the parts last night and have been working on it for over three hours" Elliot added, "Oh also Veronica is there, so who knows those three might do" he finalized, making Sarah sigh.

Veronica had shown that she could outdone any scribe on the field, she is a walking work bench, able to repair and assemble weapons and ammo on the spot, just as she said 'work benches are for novices'

Elliot had all the right to worry if those three were doing something down there, with a sigh Sarah began to descend the stairs that connected to a platform that allowed a more panoramic view of the space, once there she saw the trio actually painting something on a massive looking gun.

The gun looked like the big cousin of a minigun, the body, Sarah saw, was the one of a Enclave Heavy incinerator, only that the barrel had been removed and actually replaced by Gauss riffle barrels, coils included and mounted one over the other, at the base two thick cables were attached to the body, the six canisters that were used to fuel the incinerator were missing, instead two fission batteries now hung on the sides of the modified frame, albeit Sarah had seen them slightly before Maverick pulled a sheet of metal and blocked both batteries with it, the grip of the incinerator remained the same, but now, much to her shock, the weapon new source of ammo was a modified version of the individual clip used by a minigun that usually stored over 200 5mm rounds, under the body of the weapon, surely now it stored the same ammo capacity.

Oh and how she could miss the pair of wicked looking blades that were placed on the top and the bottom of the barrels, by the looks of it they had been recently been sharpened.

As for the colors, the main metal body was being painted black by the trio using a paint gun, how they found the painting was anyone's guess, and she would do better not knowing.

Soon the trio finished painting and stared at their creation in pride, "I think is our best work yet" Sally said, "Of course it is, we didn't rushed this one" Maverick stated, looking rather proud of the mean looking weapon.

"I can't leave you for a day can't I?" Sarah asked out loud, the duo just turned and gave her a smile for answer to her question, Veronica by her part was admiring the gun, or the parts from which it came to be.

"By the elders Sarah, this girl here is a certified genius, I swear we should present her to your father and let her have her wicked way with anything she comes across in the Citadel" Veronica said, "Maybe she'll become a head scribe, the youngest of her time" Sarah snorted at that.

"Rothchild would be green of envy I'm sure" Sarah said, knowing full well that Sally would easily usurp the position of head scribe out of Rothchild's hands, not to mention that the little girl would be the only person that could solve the critical glitches that kept Liberty Prime out of being deployed, maybe Rothchild and Doctor Li resolved the issues with Prime's energy output, but there was several glitches in the system, one that made Prime attack anything on sight, friend or foe that made it too dangerous to deploy, regardless of its power.

"How long it will take to the paint to dry itself" Sarah asked, "Fifteen minutes, Sally here added something that made it dry faster, don't ask me what, just that included Nuka-Cola, milk and turpentine" Sarah made a face at Maverick wondering if he was telling her the truth, apparently he was.

"Okay then, Maverick, Veronica, follow me, we'll start packing up, Sally, prepare the beacon, we leave in twenty" Sarah commanded, immediately Sally jumped of the floor and headed to the console that would allow the trio to leave the mothership without the need to land it or something like that.

As the trio walked away, Sarah noted something off on Maverick's clothes.

"You got bulkier" she noted, much to Maverick's slight shock, Veronica also noted this, but she believed maybe it was a side-effect of exerting his muscles too much after the fight with Lanius.

"You noticed?" Maverick questioned, "Well yeah, you're not exactly the bulkiest person I have ever met, you're average in muscle constitution" Sarah said, much to Maverick chagrin.

"Well you can blame the aliens for this" Maverick said, slightly pulling up the sleeve of the red shirt he wore, Sarah immediately noticed that instead of skin there was some sort of skin tight black material covering his arm, and the upper section of his forearm was covered by a black metal that seemed of alien origin.

"The hell is that?" Sarah asked, "Sally and I found an armor on the ship, of human origin she said, apparently this armor was used by elite Chinese forces during the anchorage campaign, their units were called the crimson dragoons, and used heavily advanced stealth units integrated on the suit, far more stable than stealth boys, or so she said" Maverick said.

"Yeah, I heard that abuse of the use of stealth boys causes paranoia and other mental illness that basically are not worth mentioning, suffice to say I have the pride prohibited the use of those things, the last thing I need is a paranoid unit" Sarah mentioned.

"Well, Sally said the same, the armor of course is safer to use than a stealth boy, all because is not a wristwatch device being used to cause the skin to be able to reflect the light, creating that water ripple effect, but is the suit as such, it doesn't touches the skin, so it's basically safer" Maverick said.

"And the plates?" Veronica asked, "Oh that? The aliens did it, apparently while they were able to make people become living stealth boys, like Wally, they were unable to replicate the same technology to mechanical use, in any case the armor intrigued them, so they modified the armor to have more protection, they added a metal only found in their planet, lightweight, yet as sturdy as Titanium, even more" Maverick mentioned.

"And you wear it down your clothes to avoid suspicions…smart" Sarah commented, slightly poking Maverick's chest and feeling the metal under the shirt's material, that could come on handy, she really doubted someone would believe she got abducted by aliens, even her father would have doubts, not to mention the rest of the pride, and considering Maverick's inhuman abilities that borderline to something out of a comic book, she would have to make up a history for his abilities.

It took them over ten minutes to gather all they needed on a backpack, food of course that Veronica would carry, considering that they would teleport near Rivet City, and from there they would head to the Citadel.

"I almost forgot" Sarah said, looking at Maverick as Veronica hefted the backpack over her shoulders and began to head back to the bridge.

"That alien dropship had vault dwellers inside, it had Amata inside, we should have used the mothership weapons and blast them off, if blowing their ship didn't kill them then the fall would surely will" Sarah stated to Maverick.

For his part Maverick sighed, looking at Sarah with some far-off look, "Don't worry, we already dealt with that, meaning me and Julia" Maverick said, making Sarah's curiosity to pike up.

"Really? How?" she demanded.

"This mothership somehow was linked to all dropships in the space-station, I made her scan for the only dropship that wasn't showing as destroyed, the dropship Amata and the others used, she tracked it and found it already on land, but empty, so we just decided to blow the ship apart, it was better that way, the Enclave wouldn't get their hands of it" Maverick reasoned, making Sarah nod at that, but it would have been better if the dwellers had been inside, less of those assholes to deal and worry off.

Soon the duo had made it back to the bridge; there they could see Veronica actually holding on her left hand another displacer glove, a matching set with the one on her right hand.

"Are you both ready?" Sally asked, looking at Maverick with a sad expression, Sarah could say that Sally had grown attached to Maverick, like a big brother, and so did Maverick, but the wasteland was currently too dangerous for a little girl like Sally, no matter her age, she would made a prime target for kid-nappers, the nickname slaver that dealt with children got.

Down there you would need to be on your guard, and truth to be told, Maverick had put his foot on letting the girl go, he was as concerned as Sarah for the safety of Sally.

Besides Sally was the only person who truly knew how the alien technology worked, their language, true her sister did too, but Sally truly knew the technology, both in and out, she had 200 years of experience under her belt, compared to the 25 years of her sister, if anything happened on the ship, Sally could fix it, she had proven to be a resourceful one, in both times of peace and crisis.

"We are Sally" Sarah said for Maverick, walking to the little girl and kneeling, "You listen here now, you're in charge here now, the people here are your responsibility, but remind them that together they can do more than alone, okay?" Sally nodded at that, a small smile on her lips, then she hugged Sarah by the neck, startling the sentinel that so far had only contact with two children in her life.

First being the last heir of the Maxson line, Arthur Maxson, who she had taught how to shoot before the war with the Enclave, and from which she has a slight scar of a shot he made to her by mistake, a flesh wound, but one that hurt like a bitch.

And the other, besides Sally, being the foulmouthed mayor of Little Lamplight, Mayor MacCready, perhaps the only person (besides Amata) who Sarah wanted to kill with his scarf for his high and mighty attitude, and his mouth, the kid swore much more than any other person or raider she had ever met, or killed.

In short, she hated the little bastard, but she had to admit he had balls, and actually cared for the residents of Little Lamplight, reason why he shot one of her knights during a patrol, their first meeting, and he didn't hold her account when she put a bullet on his shoulder, by mistake Sarah would mumble.

"You gave that displacer glove to Veronica didn't ya?" Sally nodded at Maverick's question, noting how Veronica inspected the glove with a happy look, "Okay, we are ready to go, I just need to pick the gun" Maverick said, descending the stairs and then stopping when he saw the gun, a small smile on his face.

Obviously Sally had decided to add a little extra to it, and actual leather strap so he can actually heft the weapon with his shoulder without the need to always hold it with his hands by the grip.

Also he noticed something written on the right side of the weapon, picking it up, Maverick saw what it was written in it and smiled.

'_The Boomstick'_

He had to smile, remembering a movie he had seen back in the vault, the hero of the movie had a shotgun who he had kindly nicknamed 'the boomstick'

He also smiled at the words or better said, the numbers written under it.

Revelation 21:6

During the construction of the boomstick, hell even before that, Sally had asked him a very peculiar question.

What was his favorite biblical passage?

Apparently Sally's mom had been a nurse, and a very religious devout, teaching Sally and Julia all about religion, of course Sally and Julia had tossed those teachings aside once the bombs fell and they spend the very first weeks of the aftermath of the bombs.

Maverick understood her question, one because she wanted to know something that not even Sarah knew of him, apparently Sally assumed Sarah and him were an item, true he would be the first to admit that the idea was not bad, Sarah is pretty, not to mention tough and modern, his kind of girl, reason why he never had a girlfriend back in the vault, all the girls were…too girly, to put it mildly, too lay back in the pre-war era, if he wanted a girl, he wanted one that could pull her weight, not being the stereotypic women of the pre-war era, Sarah fitted that role, the thing was that Sarah was still grieving for her dead fiancée, and wanted Amata dead, maybe when things cooled down.

Now for the favorite biblical passage, he did had one, and so his father, and so his mother, and it wasn't until he told her that he understood why his father loved the passage so much, and related it to Project purity.

"I am Alpha and Omega" he began, slinging the leather strap over his left shoulder, "The beginning and the end" he continued as he stood up, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the waters of life freely" he murmured to himself, looking at the weapon and the message that it bore on the side, what it meant to his dad.

With renewed vigor, Maverick hoped onto the stairs, Sarah and Veronica already waiting, alongside Sally who looked at the trio with some apprehension.

"I wish I could join you guys" Sally moaned, "We talked about that Sally, you can't join, unless you want to end up as a slave" Sarah commented, making Sally pout and mutters god knows what under her breath.

"Listen, I really want you to join, trust me you would become an invaluable asset down there, but you are needed here, or you want your inexperienced sister to handle a ship armed to bear?" Sarah asked, earning an indignant yell of Julia.

"But right now things are too damn dangerous down there, is better you stay here, with the rest, safe, we will try to look for Oasis and the location Yew said so you all can settle in, in the meantime endure, be strong, you waited 200 years for freedom, I think you can bear some extra months here on space while we deal with the Enclave" Sarah said, making Sally sigh and harrumph angrily.

"(Sigh) tell you what, when we reach the Citadel, Maverick here will send a message to Jackie's pip-boy…that thing will reach here right?" Maverick nodded, albeit with some apprehension, "IN any case, when Jackie gets the message of Maverick, send a beacon to the Citadel, on the coordinates Maverick will give you, we'll be waiting, I think there is something in the citadel you will enjoy working on, and you'll also get so see Earth…or what's left of it anyway" Sarah said, that was enough for Sally.

"I'll hold you onto that" Sally said, motioning the trio to follow her out of the bridge, Elliot, Somah and Julia didn't bother to bid them farewell, or a goodbye, they would meet the trio once again once the war down there is over.

The trio followed Sally down several corridors, most of the time they crossed some escapees that were getting used to the mothership or were scavenging what they could of the storage area and waste disposal, some of them waved Maverick hello or goodbye when they observed that he was armed to bear and heading to the teleportation chambers, Solo, one of the NCR troopers who would leave with Michael as well, but to the Mojave Wasteland, had gave Maverick a trench knife, holster included, a just in case, sometimes a sharp knife does more than a fist, or so they say, besides the knuckle duster attached to the grip of the knife would surely help Maverick.

After tying the holster to his left thigh, Maverick, Sarah and Veronica finally reached the teleportation chambers, the room overall was hi-tech, round, with one single console on one end of the room and a rather big teleportation matrix in the middle of the room, big enough for a converga car.

"Okay then" Sally began, working on the console, not two seconds later a holographic display appeared before her, "Sarah I need you to point me the location where I will deploy the beacon" Sarah there gave it a good thought, she had two options that could help.

"Well, what are you waiting Sarah" Maverick said, "Is not that easy Maverick, I have two options, option one is the easiest, we set the beacon near Anacostia crossing, a metro entrance, and head straight to Rivet City, you want to find your father, and he worked on Project purity, my best guess is that Doctor Madison Li can tell you his location, on the other hand we can go here, Chevy Chase used to be a neighborhood that developed fast thanks to the metro entrances around it, but now is less than a killing ground for the ill prepared, and a shooting range for Dusk, usually the pride patrols that area and kills all the Super Mutants there, but they just keep popping back, like nothing, even if we take the weapons and ammo of the cadavers they somehow get more" Sarah said.

"Also Chevy Chase is the home of GNR, or Galaxy News Radio, right now the only residents inside are Three-Dog, the disk-jockey and his assistant, and four knights that defend the entrance, the plaza is mined so heavily that it would be practically suicide to enter, even to an Overlord or a behemoth" Sarah said.

"I feel a 'but' here" Veronica whispered to Maverick, "But" Veronica smiled sweetly at Maverick that, "Three-Dog has agents all over the wasteland, these people are the ones that gather news for him and use it for his radio show, there is a chance that he might have heard something about your father, hell there is a possibility that he might have talked with Three-Dog himself, after all if you want to know what is what in the wasteland is to tune GNR in a radio or go straight to the source, Three-Dog" Sarah concluded.

"So…we have to options, risks?" Maverick wondered, "Lot's, Anacostia Crossing is reported to be a small base for Talon Company, beyond that, like I told you the space between Rivet City and the Jefferson Memorial is basically a warzone, the brotherhood engages generally against the Enclave to gain terrain, so far it has been a fight of 'who pokes his head first and gets his brain splattered by a .308' which usually start hostilities" Sarah began.

"Chevy Chase is not better, that area is full of Super Mutants, ugly, dumb and above all numerous, I know the basic Super Mutant won't pose a problem to you Maverick, after all you have killed two Overlords barehanded, the true problem of course besides terrain is that had been reports that a behemoth has been spotted on the area, that alone speaks trouble" Sarah stated.

"Uh…what's a behemoth" Veronica asked, "I forgot you come of an area where Super Mutants actually speak coherent sentences and don't grow stronger with time, well, to put it in layman terms, a behemoth is a 20 feet tall Super Mutant that carries a hydrant and a piece of the pipe under the hydrant as a club and uses the hood of a car as a wrist shield, far more dangerous than a Deathclaw because they are as ugly and big as they are strong, usually we need five miniguns and two rocket launchers to topple one of those monsters, and when we are lucky we use a Fat Man to do the work fast" Veronica wisely kept her mouth shut at that description.

"So we have either Enclave snipers or Frankenstein ugly cousins…I say we take both" that caught Sarah off-guard, "Both? Are you mad Maverick?"

"No, we hit GNR first and ask Three-Dog about my dad, I have a gut feeling that he will direct us to Rivet City, then while we head there, if we deal with either Enclave or Super Mutants will do well to the cause right?" Sarah gave it a long thought, Maverick's reasoning was well founded, but it was based on the fact that both GNR and Rivet City would be linked by his father passing on those two areas.

But it didn't took the appeal of seeing the boomstick on action, especially against the Enclave and Super Mutants, and he was right, the Enclave and Super Mutants expected a well armed force to attack them from either side, they didn't surely expect a super human with a super weapon backed up by the leader of the pride and a scribe that liked to punch anything alive.

"Okay then" Sarah said, pressing her thumb on the location she wanted the beacon to be deployed, immediately the image changed to a zoomed, bird vision of Chevy Chase, seeing that it was actually a very precise way to send the beacon without alerting those around, Sarah pressed her thumb on a section of the image that showed her an isolated and secured position.

"Okay then, that is done, step into the matrix and I'll do the rest" Sally called, making the trio nod, albeit Maverick had to be pushed by Sarah and Veronica to the matrix, he still didn't trusted that thing, now less than ever considering that it would send his particles down to Earth, from space.

"Okay, deploying beacon" Sally said, the trio waited for a whole minute in silence until Sally looked up, a smile on her face, "The beacon has landed, is your turn guys" the trio nodded, Maverick keeping his eyes closed as the matrix powered up.

"Remember; push the button on the top of the beacon to send it back!" Sally yelled, "See you in a few months' guys, missing you already" Sally said, the yellow light of the matrix doing its magic and individually fragmenting the trio until nothing remained of them on the matrix.

Sally simply rested her elbows on the console, carefully of course, and then rested her chin on her cupped hands, a sad look on her face, "…Missing you already indeed" she said.

* * *

><p>The sensation of having your atoms and particles being disassembled, then reassembled after who knows how many kilometers long trip is not exactly a bad feeling, but is not necessarily a nice experience either.<p>

Maverick of course had closed his eyes once again during the teleportation experience, and when he opened them, he was welcome with the sight of the carcass of the world, once again.

He sighed at this, it was quite a grim sight to see the remains of once tall, proud buildings that bristled with life, of silent streets with dead cars that rusted with time, dust accumulating alongside the crack on the pavement, trash here and there, alongside skeletons that littered the ground, all blackened and wearing charred clothes, a silent testament of the last moments of those who died that day.

No wonder Sally regarded those days as the darkest of her life.

"My god I was missing this" Sarah said, a look of slight contempt of her face, "You're already missing the mothership aren't ya" Maverick questioned, turning to Sarah, the sentinel simply gave Maverick a slight shake of her head before making her way to the hi-tech looking silver pin embedded to the ground, on the flat top of the beacon lay a single silver button with blue glowing corners.

Sarah didn't hesitated when she pressed the button, immediately the beacon began to defragment on the same yellow light that had allowed the trio to leave the mothership, and a second later it was gone.

"Well, there goes a story no one will believe" Veronica mussed, Sarah and Maverick nodded at that, no one would believe them that they had been kidnapped by aliens, no one, not even her father would believe what happened to them, but it had happened, Maverick's unnatural strength, endurance and beyond average guns, the dozen of epoxy needles she carried on her utility belt alongside the enhanced ATHENA armor, Wally's pip-boy loaded with valuable info and Veronica's displacer gloves were evidence of this however.

"Okay then, now where to?" Maverick asked, looking around and taking some hesitant steps on the damaged concrete.

"Let's see…there's the Pulowski preservation shelter, then it means we are close to the Early Dawn Elementary school, look there" Sarah said as she pointed to what seemed stairs going downwards, "That's Chevy Chase Metro entrance, another PPS is located near, we are on good path, just follow me and shoot anything that looks hostile" Sarah said, turning to Maverick and Veronica.

"Like that?" Maverick said, pointing at the far end, turning around and squinting her eyes, Sarah saw a pair of Super Mutants, seated on some ruble, using what used to be a building wall as coverage, and eating what seemed radroaches.

Both had their hunting rifles on the ground.

"Well how convenient, those two just offered themselves as test subjects, Maverick" Sarah commanded, Maverick understood what she meant and hefted the boomstick towards, lifting it up with ease.

"Let's see what you and Sally did, let it rip!" she bellowed, immediately Maverick pressed the trigger, the coils of the upper cannon coming to life, electricity traveling on the coils, then the bullet was fired.

Sarah took several steps back when she felt the inhuman recoil of the boomstick, and also of its effects on a target.

The Super Mutant who got the first shot never saw it coming or hear it, the bullet basically eradicated everything from the waist, basically ripping apart the Super Mutant in two and leaving a massive stain of blood on the wall, the Super Mutant was dead before it hit the ground.

The second Super Mutant stood up, startled, looking around and with a hunting rifle in hand, the last thing he saw was Maverick when he fired the Boomstick a second time, this time the chest was reduced to a pulp, arms and head flying around alongside the remains of whatever organs that survived the blast.

Sarah and Veronica stared at the handiwork of the boomstick, and then stared at Maverick who had been pushed at least two inches when he fired both rounds.

"…Good to know Sally and I put a slight shot damper, that was way overkill" Maverick muttered, Sarah and Veronica nodded at this, "Yeah, I recommend that for Behemoths and Deathclaws…and Enclave as well, one sole shot is more than enough to deter them of any kind of action against us" Sarah said, seeing how Maverick opened the left plaque of the boomstick, began to lower a crank, immediately the almost blinding glow of the boomstick magnetic coils lessened to a more bearable level.

"Is still a Gauss weapon, so I lowered to normal settings, like the one of a Gauss rifle…with a little extra kick" Maverick said, "Good enough" was all she said, the shot had been loud enough for anything alive to hear, scavengers inside the DC ruins would surely try to find a place to hide after hearing such an loud shot, Super Mutants must be alert now, and so any other patrol inside the ruins, be it raiders, Talon mercs, Enclave or brotherhood.

Soon Sarah began to mobilize, Maverick and Veronica following her, passing some ruins of a building, they could appreciate more closely what the boomstick at full power could do, Veronica made a face upon seeing the liquefied organs of the Super Mutants, and truth to be told she had seen worse in the Mojave Wasteland, but seeing a gun that shoots bullets and actually turn any living being hit by it into a red smear on the wall or the ground was something new.

Their walk was stopped suddenly when Sarah actually stopped, staring at a sight that neither Maverick nor Veronica expected.

Usually this alley was used by the Pride or other Brotherhood units to rest and reorganize, this was usually used by units with initiates on their last day as such and ready to be inducted as knights.

But now all what Sarah could see was corpse over corpse of either wastelanders or Super Mutants, and centaurs.

"Good lord what happened here?" Maverick asked, "Don't know, seems like an ambush of some sort" Sarah said, kneeling and picking an empty 10mm casket, "But who ambushed who?" Veronica wondered, a fair question Sarah summarized, it could have been some wastelanders trying to carve their own path onto more secluded areas of the DC area, relying on ambushing Super Mutants and raiders for supplies, or it could have been Super Mutants who cornered the wastelanders in the alley, but the result was obvious, no one won.

"Blood is already dry, whatever happened was over a week old, maybe more" Maverick said, "Yeah, I find odd that most weapons they have hadn't been looted, this is a goldmine for a scavenger" Veronica stated.

"This is D.C. Santangelo, I don't know how things run back in the Mojave, but to enter the D.C. ruins you have to be heavily prepared, assault rifles and ammo to spare, the Super Mutants are not picky on who they shoot" Sarah reminded Veronica.

"Well, we do have ruins of cities, well, most of towns, New Vegas is one of the few active cities, and I can say it's not as ruined as this place" Veronica stated.

"Is expected, The Mojave desert had few noticeable landmarks, Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam, and some towns that grew around the city that never sleeps, comparing Las Vegas to Washington is an insult, the capital is five times bigger than Las Vegas ever was" Maverick stated, Veronica nodded at that.

"Cut the chatter, we got uglies on the school" Sarah stated, her head poking on a corner, maybe back in the space-station she was out of place, but here, on the wasteland she was on her terrain, her turf.

Maverick immediately joined Sarah, taking off his Ushanka and poking his head also, spotting two Super Mutants on what used to be the second floor of a school; the terrain before them was an old playground, although one had to wonder what a car was doing on a playground.

"They got sniper rifles" Maverick pointed out, "Obviously they have improved their repertoire of soldiers, last time they only used hunting rifles, they must be brutes, or masters" Sarah muttered, Maverick by his part kept a vigil over the Super Mutants, then he panicked when he saw them shift their eyes to them, immediately he grabbed Sarah by the chest plate of her armor and removed her out of sight, yet the damage was done.

"What the …"

**BANG!**

Sarah recoiled when the corner her head once was turned into ash thanks to a .308 round, "They saw us" she hissed, thanking Maverick silently by pulling her away, "But they reacted slowly" he pointed out, something she nodded, "Maybe they are not used to sniper scopes, this is good" she stated.

"Think you can outrun them?" Veronica wondered, "I have something better in mind" Maverick said, cracking slightly his neck and smirking at Sarah, "Did I tell you this armor comes with voice command?" Sarah shook her head.

"Well, I do now, activate stealth mode" immediately Maverick whole body, weapon included vanished out of Sarah's and Veronica's eyes, "Hot damn, those Chinese really knew about stealth technology, I can hardly see your outline" Sarah said, her surprise became more evident when the only indication that Maverick had left was his footsteps, echoing on the alley, slowly vanishing.

"My guess, American stealth boys were stolen prototypes of the Chinese complete versions of their technology" Veronica muttered, at the same time she and Sarah poked their heads, slowly, the two Super Mutants saw their heads and were already aiming, then suddenly a shot came out of nowhere, sending the first Super Mutant sniper flying away with a gaping hole on its chest, the second Super Mutant didn't knew where the shot came, and never did because it's head was blown away.

Sarah smirked at that, it had been so easy that it was almost painful to watch, almost.

Motioning Veronica to follow her, the scribe and the sentinel reunited with Maverick near a damaged car, his form already visible.

"Nice work Maverick, two clean shots and those two were none the wiser" Sarah stated, "You got the makings of a member of the pride" she added, "Yeah, the pet" Veronica butted in, making Sarah giggle, Maverick by his part didn't found this funny at all.

"Let's just move" Maverick stated, already walking away, the two members of the brotherhood already following him, once inside the school, the trio spotted the two dead Super Mutants, immediately Maverick removed their sniper rifles of their hands alongside with ammo, albeit he found odd something he found on them.

"Hey Sarah, check this out" Maverick called, standing up and handing Sarah a pair of green neon glowing stimpaks, "This is new, any idea what these things might be?" she wondered.

"Not a clue, but they look brand new" Veronica butted in once again, this time with information that Maverick and Sarah took well, "Enclave doesn't use new stimpaks, they rather re-use the old ones, they just change the needles, but Veronica is right, these things are too new" Sarah said, handing the green neon stimpaks to Maverick who pocketed them.

"But I know where you can make new ones" Maverick stated, "A vault" Sarah hissed, "Great, now we have two of the greatest enemies working together against us" Sarah said.

"Not exactly, I think these mutants might be using a vault as base, after all Vault 101 is not the only vault in the Capital Wasteland" Maverick said.

"You're right, I'll let dad know about this once we make it to the citadel, this is big news" Maverick nodded at that.

Sarah kept leading them, walking around the ruined halls of the school, Veronica and Sarah didn't paid attention to this, however Maverick did, he was trying hard not to imagine what the kids in this particular school felt once the bombs felt, he really tried hard not to, but the small skeletons he found on a classroom made him hard not to.

"This place is crawling with ghosts of the past" Maverick muttered to the women, both girls gave him and odd look; he just looked at the classroom filled with children skeletons, charred skeletons.

Sarah didn't say nothing at that, and neither Veronica, both knew that Maverick could get sensible when it came to children, and seeing a classroom full of children skeletons must have perturbed him as much as the aisle filled with corpses back in the space-station.

As Maverick kept looking at the empty halls of the school, the two brotherhood members simply kept a gaze forward, Sarah especially, she found odd that there was no Super Mutants on the second floors, like six months ago when she guided the pride to deal with yet another Super Mutant invasion.

"I don't like this, is too quiet" Sarah stated, eyes darting around, "No shit Sarah, I expected more of a Super Mutant invaded DC ruins, like shots, shouts, and people dying screams, I still have yet to hear any of that" Maverick muttered tot hr sentinel.

"Don't worry, you will hear that soon enough" Sarah said, rounding a corner and spotting the exit of the school that connected to GNR plaza.

Once they exited the school, Sarah found herself staring in utter shock at the sight.

She knew that GNR plaza was one of the most heavily mined areas in the Capital Wasteland, stepping into this area without approval of the brotherhood is practically suicide, so it was quite a surprise when instead of the heavily mined area she found herself staring over corpses over corpses of mutilated Super Mutants, most missing legs, but one fact remained, the plaza was devoid of mines.

"Oh man, this is not good" Veronica muttered, to Sarah her statement was an understatement, this was beyond fucked…

"Oh god" Sarah said as she made a mad sprint to the entrance of GNR, Veronica and Maverick stared at each other and then followed her, once they caught up with her, they saw her pressing her thumb on the intercom nearby the entrance.

"Come on, answer! Anyone!" Sarah bellowed on the intercom, pressing the button in desperation, "Come on guys! I'm not being used by Super Mutants! Just answer the damn intercom!"

"Sarah" Maverick said worriedly by the sentinel, placing a hand on her armored shoulder, "If you want I can break the door and see if there is anyone inside" Sarah was desperate enough to take that offer, all things considering.

"_Sentinel Lyons?" _a female voice broke Sarah's idea of using Maverick as a living battering ram when she heard a very familiar voice.

"Dusk? Is that you?" Sarah asked to the intercom.

"_Yeah…what's my first name"_ the woman in the other side of the intercom asked, "Well is Dawn, kinda ironic I say" Sarah said, not a second later the trio heard the door being unlocked.

"_Okay Sarah, I'm gonna let you in, but you better keep that guy with the pip-boy on a short leash"_

"Relax Dusk, he is friendly, as long you don't physically attack him, or berate his family you will live, if you do…well let's say Colvin will claim the position of best sniper in the pride" Sarah stated.

"…_okay then, but he better behave, I got three miniguns ready to turn him into a bullet sponge if he breathes wrong"_

"As if would help" Veronica said to Maverick, making him chuckle, Sarah gave them both a dirty look, just reaching for the door and opening it.

Once opened, Sarah was welcomed by the barrel of a sniper rifle too near of her face, Sarah didn't made a move at all, not even Maverick tried to remove the rifle of her face, Sarah didn't did nothing at all.

"Stone cold Sarah, stone cold" Dusk said, her helmet hiding the smirk/smile that she had, many had given Sarah as another casualty of the war against the Enclave, yet no body had been found, not even a trace, Gallows had been clearly concerned by the lack of tracks in Sarah's last know location.

But now it seemed that Sarah had been fine all along, and apparently in the company of a Vault Dweller, the pip-boy was a quick give-away of who he was, but why he was with Sarah she didn't knew, maybe he had captured her, and in the month Sarah was gone, had a change of heart, after all this Vault Dweller actually looked like a respectable human being, and not a fancy dressed raider, besides for all Dusk knew, this Vault Dweller and Sarah might had been on the same boat, kidnapped by god knows what and forced to work together to escape, forming a bond in that escape.

Oh how close she was of the truth.

Removing her sniper rifle of Sarah's face, Dusk was able to see the third member of the group, the robed girl with the backpack, she looked like brotherhood, the robes were once the old attire of wandering scribes, long before the main brotherhood back in Lost Hills began to send expeditions all over North-America.

"You look good, for someone who was reported dead" Sarah smirked at that, she knew better, no one was definitely dead until their dogtags were recovered and presented to the scribes, so they could close the chapter of that knight or paladin definitely.

"You look good for someone who held against an army of Super Mutants" Sarah said, Dusk just chuckled and shook her armored head, "The minefield saved us all, if for a day, I know the uglies will come, in greater numbers, they even had a behemoth around, but chose to withdraw when they saw we had a Fat-man around, but we don't have mini-nukes to use it" Dusk said, making Sarah sigh, then to turn to Maverick.

"Set that thing again to overkill" Sarah said, "Are behemoths that bad?" Maverick asked, much to the amusement of the knights present.

"Yes Maverick" Sarah began, "Their skin is rather thick, but your boomstick actually has the firepower to penetrate that skin with one shot, if we are lucky that shot will tear their organs apart and open a hole of the size of my torso once they exit, you don't know how much ammo is wasted on those things, one shot is more than enough" Sarah said, making Maverick nod, but with some apprehension as he hefted the massive gun and changed the setting, all while with one hand, many noticed.

"That thing is heavy, Vault Dwellers are not that strong, not even that Kendall girl" Dusk said, making Maverick perk up at that, "You have seen Christine?" he asked.

"Her name's Christine?" one of the knights asked to the other, "I always thought it was burned bitch" the other said, not missing the look Maverick gave them.

"Yeah I have, put at least a whole clip of my sidearm on her body and she didn't felt it, is like those burns on her body fucked her nerves" Dusk said, making Maverick frown, remembering what Amata had told him, Christine had been heavily burned while rescuing her sister of the fires, not the same luck with her mother of course.

"How do you know Kendall" Dusk wondered, keeping her sniper rifle close, "I grew with her, and I can say with the truth, she was rather fragile before, but taking a whole clip of a gun…man how things have changed" he said, noting how Dusk and the knights tensed up.

"So you are from Vault 101" Dusk hissed, taking deliberate steps towards Maverick, "What stops me from putting a bullet on your head?" Dusk asked, Sarah sighed at this, sometime she wonders if she was this bad before she met Maverick.

"One, I have the big gun" Maverick said, purposely exposing the Boomstick, and the deadly looking blades in it, "Two, Sarah is smitten to me"

"I am not Maverick, you are an incredible useful asset I am not willing to part off in a long time, that's what" Sarah snapped.

"And third" he hissed, Dusk eyes widened when his left hand shot fast; seizing her helmet, she was glad she wore it loose, otherwise he would have seize her wholly.

"I am far above anything you have fought before" he hissed, adding pressure to the helmet that instantly gave up under his hand, much to the onlookers shock, the Power Helmet became scrap under the iron like grip of Maverick.

Dusk, now exposed, could see with clarity that this guy was either an escaped Enclave experiment (no way a human could do that) or he was an Enclave spec op.

"Enough, both of you, you three lower your guns now!" Sarah commanded, stepping between Maverick and Dusk, "He is right Dusk, he is nothing like we have faced before, I can say that honestly, no Vault Dweller is that strong, good thing he is not with them" Sarah said with a smile, confusing Dusk.

"Excuse me? Vault Dwellers are all the same" Dusk replied, "Really, because I know this one isn't, he is yet to start spouting Enclave propaganda and calling us all mutants" Sarah said with a smirk, "Besides" Sarah added while crossing her arms, "Maverick here is not like them, for once he never met the Enclave until some days ago" Sarah said wisely, while she could reveal information of what had happened on the space-station, she, Maverick and Veronica had agreed that no one knew what had really, really transpired there, especially the all alien thing, better to people believe that Maverick had been experimented heavily because of his zero exposure to the wasteland and thus made him a pure stock to the scientists that made him a freak of nature, than to say he had been given experimental procedures by little green men on a gigantic space-station which he blew up.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Dusk wondered, "Simple" Veronica butted in, now Maverick and Sarah were slightly nervous of what might the scribe say.

"You see, Maverick here left the vault because his dad left the vault as well, six months ago, of course his luck ran out when he got caught once he got out by slavers, he got sold by some strange scientist guys who paid a lot of caps for him, they got a lot of guys being experimented, but all wastelanders, all mutated by the environment, all but Maverick here, he got experimented like the rest, and he lived to see the results of it, of course Sarah here got caught as well, and me? Well I kinda found my way there, you know being scribe and all that looking technology" Veronica said.

"I knew it, you are a wandering scribe, the robes were a quick give-away, what chapter?" Dusk asked, "Mojave chapter, but that doesn't matter, I kinda got lost in my way and ended up there, anyway what Maverick did is just a little peek of what he can really do, I saw him punch a hole in the stomach of a Super Mutant and actually push away a Deathclaw, that scar in his face is the only wound he got from the beast" Dusk actually stared, there was no living being, besides Behemoths that had engaged a Deathclaw on close combat and lived to tell the tale.

"And of course between these two, yours truly and other experimented people, we kinda paid the scientist all they did to us" Veronica ended, making Dusk nod, "So…six months ago…gotta say I'm surprised, yet it doesn't explain how he knows of the Enclave personally, unless the scientist were Enclave" Dusk said.

"Nah, they weren't, albeit they were supplied by them" Sarah said, "During our escape one of the Enclave officers send to check the experiments stumbled with Maverick, Amata Almodovar" Dusk eyes narrowed at that, "The bitch? No wonder no one has seen here in a while, so is she dead?"

"Hardly, apparently she had support, but Maverick made an everlasting impression on her" Sarah said, remembering that Maverick had told her that he had broken Amata's ribs with 'light' blows and had made her vomit blood, not to mention backslapped her, bitch style, that made her day.

Dusk seemed to take this in stride, not surprisingly for someone who knew the female sniper, after all Dusk and Sarah were the only females on the pride, with the exception of Star Paladin Cross, who time to time joined the pride on missions, on the request of elder Lyons.

"Okay then, I'll let him be just because Sarah seems to trust you" Dusk said, earning a raised eyebrow of Maverick, just for that?

"But one wrong move" she let the threat linger in the air, Maverick didn't care for this, "What? You will shoot me? Trust me on this, Amata did, twice, poini-blank, only helped in making me angry…and you don't want me angry" Maverick hissed, Dusk simply narrowed her eyes, "Killed a lot of angry Super Mutants, what makes you different than those blundering fools" she hissed.

"Easy…I will be the last thing you see in this world" he added as he pushed her away, Dusk simply tsk'ed at that, seeing how Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose and followed Maverick, Veronica not far behind.

"We are going to see Three-dog, and then we will see if we can help you with the defense" Sarah said, Dusk and the knights nodded at that, seeing how the trio ascended the stairs and disappeared on the halls.

Once away of the knights, Sarah let a sigh escape her lips, a tired one, "They broke the pride to meet the defense numbers" she said, "Dusk has never been too far of a member of the pride, Gallows usually is her spotter and tell hers where are the targets" she added.

"Your father must had a good reason for it" Veronica mentioned, "Oh yeah, I know why, we are losing the war" Sarah said with the upmost serious stare she could muster in the moment, which was great all things considered, "I am away one month and the pride gets disbanded"

"I doubt is that" Maverick said suddenly, snapping Sarah of her revering, "My guess is that Dusk was send here alone to reinforce the defenses, temporally until they could send more people, then she would return back to the pride" Maverick reasoned.

"Whatever the case is, we have an objective, let's go upstairs and talk with Three-dog, gotta warn you thought, Three-dog can be…uhm, unique" Sarah said, hesitating in her last words.

"Is another way of saying crazy right?" Maverick wondered, "Sort off, I mean yes you have to be crazy to make a radio program in the middle of DC, but no one questions him when it comes to info, is 100% accurate, on time and punctual, but he is…eccentric, that's the word!" Sarah exclaimed, making Maverick sigh.

"Okay then, lead the way, you seem to know him well enough to know where to head to" Veronica muttered, Sarah took the cue and leaded the duo to the third floor, where Three-dog's studio was, there Maverick and Veronica were surprised by the amount of tech around, more Maverick when he spotted a stack of holotapes, going for one he smiled like a children on sugar high when he saw the names in it.

"Holy crap, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, oh man I always watched the video when those two sung together back in the 57, and then again in 64 when both sung 'my way' man I nearly cried when I heard it" Maverick said with a smile, Sarah just sighed, she sometimes forgot that Maverick grew on a pre-war environment, with commodities that others didn't had, such as a warm bed, warm food, pure water and actual entertainment.

"Uh, so you're a fan of the king and the voice" Maverick turned around, staring at a dark skinned man with a goatee, a headwrap around his head, tinted glasses, and holding a stack of holotapes in his hands.

"Yeah, always thought the tapes were gone in the war, don't you mind if I download this one?" Maverick said, brandishing his pip-boy and the holotape, the man didn't gave it a second thought and said yes, immediately Maverick was all over the holotape, downloading its 'precious' info, well to Maverick it was.

The dark skinned man was about to pull out his magnum when Sarah's hand grabbed his shoulder, "Sarah Lyons? Damn girl you're alive?" he asked.

"I am Three-dog, and I urge you, don't do it" she said, Three-dog was about to ask her why, but her gaze told him otherwise, it was the kind of gaze one would expect of a person who had hunted Deathclaws and was giving advice to someone to not do something.

He nodded at that, but he didn't like it at all, "Maverick get a move on!" Sarah exclaimed, "Don't rush me Sarah, this is better than I imagined, is the holotape of the missing duet of Frank and Elvis, a whole album was made with them singing their best songs back in 65, only one thousand copies were made, and when Frank Sinatra died in 1998 an auction was made with this record, one million pre-war dollars, for just one of the albums was made, the record was ten millions, so you can say I am holding a piece of history, so don't rush me and made me corrupt one of the songs or god help me I will rip your arm and bash your head with it" Maverick stated, making her roll her eyes.

"Maverick, not all problems in your life can be fixed by ripping your enemies arms off and beat them to death with their own limbs" Sarah sighed, then turned to Three-dog, "TD, please, by all means, don't berate his dad or try to attack him, or you will know what an overlord felt when facing Maverick" Sarah stated as she walked away.

Three-dog by his part looked at the seemingly innocent vault dweller that didn't look like one at all, then turned to Veronica, "And for the sake of knowing, what he did to an overlord?" he asked.

"Don't know, Sarah is being vague with their first face-off with one of them, but she said he went bat-shit crazy and ripped the Overlord apart, but I can say the second time they crossed one, Maverick punched a hole on the overlord's throat and then one in his stomach, and used the corpse to fence off a horde of ghouls" Veronica stated, finding a seat and sitting on it, Three-dog by his part just looked aghast by that information and actually didn't believe it.

But he was in the damn wasteland, weirder shit has happened before.

After a whole minute of waiting, Maverick was finally done with the holotape, and was now advancing at him, Three-dog immediately tensed up, having heard stories about vault dwellers, not nice stories about them.

"Three-dog, right?" the boy asked, Three-dog nodded, "Good, I'm Maverick" the boy extended his hand to him, Three-dog, by custom gave Maverick a handshake.

"I heard you're a man who know what is what around the wasteland" Maverick stated, that caught Three-dog's attention, "I need to know if you have heard about my father" Maverick said.

"I have heard stories about a lot of father's kid" Three-dog stated, "Then let me be more specific, a vault dweller dad, six months ago, before the war, middle-age man, brown hair with specks of grey on the sides, Caucasian, brown eyes, beard, clad in a vault jumpsuit or a vault jumpsuit with a white coat under it, has a slight taste for vodka and brandy" Maverick stated, that cleared Three-dog greatly, and made him go eye wide.

"Holy shit, you're James kid?" Maverick nodded enthusiastically, this was good, "Well I'll be, isn't this a small world, well yeah, your dad came here, talked a little" Three-dog began.

"How about five hours!" a female voice sounded form the back of the studio, "Margaret, keep sorting the holotapes!" Three-dog yelled back.

"That's Margaret, my assistant and girl, yeah six months ago we were all professional, but a lot of whiskey, a warm bed and yours truly can change a girl" Three-dog said, making Maverick chuckle, "Sure thing Casanova" he replied, making Three-dog laugh outright.

"Alright, now I see you're not like the rest, thank god for small miracles" Three-dog said, growing serious, "Listen kid, you want to find your father, alright, I see you're not like the other vault dwellers, all blinded by Eden's 'patriotic' speeches and the delusion of an old America, but you got to learn something here kid, all has some value, even info" Three-dog said, Maverick narrowed his eyes at that.

"I don't mean caps of course, I need you to make me a favor, a big one" Three-dog began, "You see GNR is like my baby, I feed it, nurture it, see it grow…problem is that no one can hear it cry and laugh" Three dog continued.

"You see the dish relay is placed on the tallest area on the Capital Wasteland, the Washington monument" Three-dog said, "That thing survived the war?, now that's a surprise" Maverick said, "Yeah it did, what didn't make it was the disk relay, funny thing about super mutants, they are like overgrown babies with weapons, one of them thought it would be funny to shoot the dish relay…now is Swiss cheese" Three-dog said.

"Because of that the signal has been shit lately, but I was able to find a replacement, well the brotherhood did, but thing is that the Washington monument is located in the middle of a DC hellhole, Super Mutants rule that area" the disk-jockey said.

"But I see you got a big gun, and the drive to do anything for your dad" Maverick nodded at that, "Okay then, here's the deal, you go to the mall, help the brothers there in killing every super mutant you come across and help them install the dish relay, then return and I'll help you with your dad, okay?"

"Three-dog" Sarah said, only to be silenced by Maverick rising his arm, "Okay Three-dog, I will, but you better live up to your part of the bargain or the capital wasteland will know what is to lack a proper disk-jockey" Maverick said, turning around and walking away, leaving Three-dog who just smirked.

"Maverick are you sure this is wise?" Veronica wondered, "I don't, but is the best way without recurring to violence" Maverick said out loud, "Maverick you could have scared Three-dog for the answers, punching a hole on one of the consoles, lifting him up by the neck, anything, even breaking some ribs" Sarah added.

"Sarah, that's unnecessary violence, it will serve nothing at all" Maverick stated, "This is the wasteland Maverick, things work different around here" Sarah declared.

"No wonder humanity is contending with monsters like super mutants, 200 years and nothing has changed" Maverick replied, Sarah was about to answer back when she locked eyes with Maverick, "Listen Sarah, if people don't change now, we are going to repeat the same mistakes that drove the world to nuclear Armageddon and humanity to the edge of extinction, we have to make a stand now, make a change or we won't last another 200 years" Maverick replied, pointing a finger at her.

"(Sigh) father has always tried to instruct me that, but what can we do? We are just a few, a handful, we can't make a difference, it's crazy" Sarah replied back.

"Tell that to George Washington, to Abraham Lincoln, to Gandhi, tell that to Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander the Great and Albert Einstein, they were just individuals, but they became legends, part of human history, because they dared to do what other men didn't, when called crazy they scoffed and made a stand, they became legends, but most importantly, they didn't gave up, that's the difference Sarah, you don't have to be big to make it big" Maverick replied hotly.

Sarah by her part just stood there, a stone look on her face, "So you're saying this world, from the past and now, is to the bold, to those who dare to actually believe?" Maverick nodded, "Let's say true, how about those who doesn't want that, there are lot of people who don't want this to change, raiders, Talon Mercs, hell I heard rumors about a guy who orders the mercs themselves to kill people who try the things you say, what assures me you will be different, that this will be different" Sarah wondered, neither noticed that Three-dog was hearing on a corner of the room.

"Simple, because we dare, you and me Sarah, remember…a couple of problem solvers" Maverick said, Sarah remembered the oath they made back in the space-station, "Yeah…you and me Maverick" she sighed.

"Exactly, the thing is that you feel so overwhelmed with what is happening…let's take it step by step okay? Let's help Three-dog get his radio up and running, he'll help us, after that well, we are going to keep going forward Sarah, never back, forward" he stated, making her sigh at this.

"All right, but in this mission you're on your own, Veronica and I will remain here, making sure no Super Mutants overwhelm GNR" Sarah began, "There should be a back entrance that should lead you to one of the brotherhood outposts, from there you should follow the arrows until you reach the mall, but be careful, the metro lines are infested with feral ghouls" Sarah said.

"Great, any chance of seeing glowing ones?" Maverick wondered, "A lot, there are scattered reports of glowing ones with disproportionate bodies, and upon death actually explode, must be the radiation around the metro lines, some streets actually collapsed with a lot of nuclear waste during the bombing, so I would be careful with that" Sarah replied, making Maverick frown at that.

"Is not nice, but I'll have to bear with that" Maverick said, ready to leave, but then stopped, seemed to give it a good thought, then turned to her and unloaded the boomstick of his shoulders, handing it to her, Sarah just stared with a shocked look at the massive weapon offered by Maverick.

"You'll need it more than me, I'm just borrowing it of course, I want it back once I return" Maverick said, Sarah accepted the massive gun with hesitation, slinging the leather strap on her shoulder, she was glad Sally had tampered with the ATHENA strength output, no power armor would have been able to bear the massive weight of the boomstick.

"Don't worry about the recoil, the weapons' size compensates it, so you can fire it as much as you want, but remember you have only 196 rounds left, after that you have to replace it with another 5mm rounds" Maverick stated, that made Sarah raise an eyebrow.

"Minigun rounds? I thought you and Sally used .308 rounds" Sarah stated, "We tried, more punching power by length, but the rounds didn't fit in the magazine, and even if they did, we would have to built the boomstick from starch, remember we used minigun parts alongside sniper parts to ensure accuracy and stopping power, besides 5mm rounds allow us to fire more rounds, sure it takes some extra rounds compared to a .308, but we compensated that with the amount of rounds, 200, and the ability to not overheat like other guns built like this" Maverick stated, seeing Sarah basically eye the boomstick with something akin to reverence.

"Okay then, but I think you should carry it, the mall is thick with Super Mutants of all classes, not only the basic and Overlord class, Brutes, masters, some abominable, is a war zone back there, and practically suicide to go there" Sarah said.

"I know Sarah, but I don't care, my dad is out there, god knows where, I need to find him, find him before the Enclave does, find him before Amata does, if he left me just to complete Project Purity and he knows a way to end it, then I must help him, but not before I show him his actions had consequences" Maverick stated seriously, truth to be told Sarah didn't expect less of Maverick, after all his dad had left without even saying goodbye, had she been in his place she know the moment she finds her father the first thing she will do is punch him and then hug him until she hears bones groan.

"Besides the Boomstick is heavy, way too heavy, it will hinder me, don't you want to go to the citadel and see your dad, make him stop worry about you?" Sarah nodded at that, realizing that Maverick had admitted that the weapon made him slow, maybe not as much as holding a minigun, but still did.

"Besides I always wanted to see how fast I really am now, and That Gun is more than enough against Super Mutants, no matter how thick their skin is, headshot with a gauss propelled round is still deadly" Sarah nodded at his way of thinking.

"Okay then Maverick, but remember the golden rules, you keep what you kill, everything is hostile until proven otherwise, and by god duck when needed, I don't think you are missile proof" Sarah said, he simply grinded and walked away, opening a door on the back of Three-dog studio and closing it.

"…Good luck you crazy bastard" she muttered as she turned around and went to the entrance of GNR, she had a lot to talk with Dusk about, she had a lot of catching up to do.

* * *

><p>Maverick opened the back door of GNR, immediately he was assaulted by the sun's glare, he slightly closed his eyes, allowing them to get used to the light, once he felt they got used to it, he opened them.<p>

Looking around he saw that the back exit of the building was in fact the remains of an office room, at least three floors fall to the ground, he could make out a metro entrance at the far, alongside a picnic table and what seemed ammo boxes on top of it, beyond that buildings and what used to be a underground highway entrance, now that entrance was long covered in rubble of a building that collapsed under its weight, he could make some cars trapped under the rubble, a bus and a truck that somehow didn't got caught in the ruble because some cars crashed after the ruble and some figures moving down near the wreckage.

With a single leap, Maverick easily covered the gaps of the three floors, and landed loudly on the ground, lifting dust slightly when he landed, yet he didn't felt pain on his legs after that fall, or strain, in fact he felt fine.

Narrowing his eyes Maverick moved slowly to the metro entrance, along the way he could now see the figures on the wreckage were I fact ghouls, feral ghouls, the normal kind, three of them roaming around, the torn frame of a person visible on the ground.

Maverick simply made his way to the metro entrance, stopping when his Geiger counter began to tick, and saw that the entrance was actually flooded, cursing under his breath he made his way to the picnic table there he smiled when he saw at least three ammo boxes, a first aid kit, and a assault rifle, laying there, like nothing, opening the boxes, he there groaned when he saw that two of the three boxes where empty, the last one had four clips for the assault rifle he found, then he opened the first aid kit, seeing a simple aid pack.

Usually first aid kits came with three different kinds of aid packs, the first one was the more basic, bandages, a simple Med-X to numb the pain, a single Stimpak to aid in healing the wound and from 2067 to the current time, they came with a single bottle of Rad-X that contained fifty pills to increase the body ability to resist the radiation particles in small doses and to actually be able to prevent minor radiation sickness if presented.

The second aid pack contained a more buffed edition, while containing now more bandages an extra bottle of Rad-X, five stimpaks and three med-X, now it held two intravenous Radaway to those who were under the effects of radiation sickness and wanted to make sure to get better.

The third pack was rare, but the most valuable, this one, besides containing ten Stimpaks, ten Rad-X, five Radaway intravenous packs, ten med-x and bandages, this one also includes instruments like tweezers, scissors, two blood packs and a bottle of water, for dehydration.

Now Maverick is used to the first pack, the simple one, ad turns out this was the one he found, slightly disappointed he pulled the contents out, pocketing the med-x, the stimpacks and Rad-x together and then pocketing the bandages on his vest pocket, then he reached for the assault rifle, seeing if the current clip had ammo, seeing that it didn't had, he removed it and tossed it away, the clip hit one of the cars, immediately alerting the ghouls under, Maverick didn't care for this, simply replacing the empty clip for a fresh one and putting the other three on the back of his utility belt.

Making it to the edge of the street where he found the weapon, Maverick saw the three ghouls actually inspecting the noise the clip he tossed made. With a grin he took a few steps back, then he dashed forward, making a leap, the moment felt so surreal for anyone who made the jump, at least with Jet it would feel, and to anyone watching it would have been a suicide jump, but Maverick felt otherwise.

Landing loudly behind the ghouls, the loud 'thud' he made upon landing made the three ghouls turn to face him, Maverick had already the assault rifle aimed at the ghoul on his right, squeezing the trigger a burst of bullets came out, impacting the ghoul on the chest, the emaciated ghoul flesh had little to o against rifle rounds, and felt dead before it could do any kind of noise.

Making a quick advance, Maverick grabbed the rifle for the body, seeing how the ghoul on his left made a mad dash against him, faster than anyone could see Maverick had already hipped the gun against the gun, the wooden stock of the rifle impacting brutally against the skull of the ghoul, sending it flying away with a cracked skull.

The central ghoul was also making a dash against him, arm already rise to strike, Maverick simply kept advancing, then stopping abruptly, he rose his leg and rammed it against the advancing ghoul on the chest, the ribcage collapsed against such vicious strike and the ghoul was send flying towards the car, leaving a dent upon impact.

Maverick surveyed the three dead ghouls, then turned away, slightly jogging and spotting the body of the dead wastelander, there he noticed something, this guy was no wastelander.

"Enclave" he muttered, seeing the officer uniform on the remains of the man, a scared look on his face forever preserved by Rigor Mortis, kneeling he closed the eyes of the dead man, then checked the pockets of the man, finding two energy cells, looking around he found the remains of a laser pistol, clutched by the remains of an arm, the man's arm, taking the laser pistol he stripped with ease the broken gun of any salvagable component and pocketing them, then he rose up.

Looking around he saw what seemed the symbol of the brotherhood of steel painted near a door, and arrow painted and pointing at the door, the words 'to the mall' painted as well.

"Follow the yellow brick road Dorothy" he muttered, cracking slightly his neck and taking a deep breath, it was time to test his abilities at its fullest.

Maverick suddenly broke into a mad sprint against the door, with a cry he shoulder charged against the door, the hinges were unable to hold his inhuman strength and charge and the door was basically kicked away by him, the influx of light made several residents inside to screech in pain by the sudden light.

Maverick spotted at least a dozen of ferals around, all the normal kind, he changed his mind when he saw a Reaver on the very back of the horde, reaching for the rifle, Maverick changed the setting of full burst to one shot, then while charging, he took aim and activated V.A.T.S. in an instant he had every ghoul targeted, then he fired.

The ghouls began to drop like flies with a single round, soon all the twelve ghouls were dead in Maverick's passing, leaving the Reaver who charged at Maverick, loosing no time he against shoulder charged the Reaver, the bubbling ghoul had little way to defend itself when a human shaped train basically rammed it in the stomach and then against a wall, then basically force fed lead in the face by Maverick's assault rifle.

With the Reaver dead, Maverick turned to a blast door, jogging there he opened the door, and began to make a spring downwards, following the arrows left by Brotherhood soldiers.

Screeches of ghouls and gunshots echoed on the once lifeless metro halls for over half an hour.

_**Half an hour later…**_

Maverick dusted himself, emerging from a staircase that connected to the metro hub, the area where many people would wait for the metro wagons to arrive, now that area was mostly rubble, the tunnels where the trains came had collapsed a long time ago, and whoever was inside died as well.

Also those hubs, maintenance rooms and tunnels were crawling with ghouls and raiders, Sarah obviously forgot to tell him about the crazy, marauding and smelly people who shoot anyone on sight.

Ill equipped, ill armored, ill…in every aspect, raiders are, in Maverick's humble opinion, the cannon fodder of the wasteland, and also source of ammo, weapons, medicine and drugs, all but armor, he is not going to wear that, no matter how cool it looks.

Of course as crazy they are, they also became part of the proof of Maverick's growing abilities, and proof that anyone can get a lucky shot.

A female raider had nailed his assault rifle with a shotgun blast, damaging the weapon beyond repair, of course the pellets did little against Maverick's hardened skin and the armor underneath his clothes, the female raider in less than a second lay dead when he punched her in the face and caved his head off with the blow, and got himself a nice combat shotgun, similar to Somah riot shotgun, but a semi-automatic model, and unlike Somah's shotgun, he had to actually replace the drum of the gun or load the drum attached to the gun with an individual shell to reload it.

That gun, alongside his speed and no fear to get close to his opponents allowed him to use and abuse of the shotgun close-quarters overpowered stopping power against the ghouls, he felt kinda bad for them, but hey, they don't have minds anymore, they are in essence mindless zombies hell-bent on eating his flesh.

Looking around, Maverick spotted the last possible sign that showed him where the mall was located, this time he spotted the exit of the metro lines, with a smile he began to walk into it, opening the fence, Maverick stepped out of the metro lines, escalating the stairs and seeing what all the wastelanders called 'the mall'

The area had been once a bustling plaza, full of life that once held several landmarks on Washington, the Washington Monument, Lincoln's Memorial, the Museum of History and Technology and the Capitol.

Now however it had something else, trenches, lot's and lot's of trenches, Maverick blinked owlish at the sight of deep trenches carved on the ground, it was unsettling to see this, after all there was no record of this being made before.

"Disturbing, isn't it?" Maverick whipped around fast, aiming his shotgun at the source of the voice, then stopping and blinking owlish once again at the source of the voice.

The man stood over 6 feet tall, clad in a shady looking long overcoat over a pre-war man's clothes, alongside a hat that covered the man's eyes, on the man's lips he had a cigarette.

"uh…hi" Maverick said, the man slightly looked at him, "Hello to you, Vault Dweller" the man said, taking a drag of his cigarette, reaching for it and taking it out of his lips as he let smoke out of his mouth, "Uh…dumb question…how do you know I'm a vault dweller?" Maverick asked, feeling weary of the man.

"One, you confirmed it, two, only Vault dwellers wear pip-boys on their wrists, also there is not such a thing as dumb questions, never be afraid of asking anything" the man said, Maverick did felt annoyed at that, after all his father told him the same, but to do so with caution.

"Okay, so then what are you doing here? As I heard this place is a warzone" Maverick stated walking towards the stranger, the man didn't seem to be bothered by Maverick's statement.

"Does it sounds like a warzone?" the stranger asked, Maverick was about answer back, when it hit him, it was actually quiet, too quiet, for Sarah's description of the mall, the area should be a cacophony of shots, explosions and scream of rage and of those dying, instead, the soft rustle of the wind on the ground was all he heard, alongside the echo among the hollowed streets.

"…what is going on?" Maverick wondered, "They are waiting" the stranger replied, tossing the cigarette to the ground and stepping onto it, "The Super Mutants or the brotherhood" Maverick wondered.

"Both, one waits, swelling their forces until they are ready to storm in, the others wait, swelling their defenses for a last, desperate stand for survival" the stranger replied, making Maverick to frown, it didn't take a genius to know what he was referring to.

"Where?" Maverick questioned, "Where history is stored, it once as a city, but it lacked raw material for sustenance, and fell into disarray, they abandoned it, well most of its inhabitants did, some stayed, clinging into that little glimmer of safety they had" the stranger said.

"I see…thanks" Maverick said, slowly walking away towards the museum of history, "A word of warning beforehand" the stranger said, making Maverick stop, "Some people do not forgive that easily, and hold prejudice to everyone related to those who wronged them, threat with caution" the stranger said as he walked away, Maverick gave the man a long stare as he turned on a corner and vanished of sight.

"…what a mysterious stranger…hey, it has a nice ring" he said to himself as he made his way towards the trenches, not noticing how the stranger gave him a look on one of the corners, then smirked.

"You are late, nevertheless this situation will help more"

Maverick didn't hear the stranger said that, or whisper it, he simply made his way to the trenches, once there he saw what the stranger meant by ones hiding and others preparing to storm in.

Hiding on a sandbag, Maverick spotted at least a dozen of Super Mutants, all carrying heavy ordinance, from miniguns to Rocket launchers and heavy looking machineguns that looked like assault rifles on the big hands of the overlords that were parading with them.

What surprised and horrified Maverick were the other creatures that were being paraded with leashes on their necks by the overlords.

They seemed…in short words, butt ugly, the faces were in fact muscles stretched so badly that the skin had ruptured, exposing the cheekbones and lacking lips and eyelids, the skull was also visible, alongside some strange puss like clusters on the back of the head and near the base of the neck and Adam's apple, the torso was as heavily built as the one of an average Super Mutant, the arms were just deformed muscles overlapping torn skin and he could spot bones poking on some areas, what struck him scared was that while the right leg of the thing was muscle and skin, the left leg was in fact bones held by ligaments and by any means shouldn't hold at all, let alone move.

"Activate stealth mode" Maverick whispered, suddenly becoming invisible to the naked eye, the super mutants didn't notice him, neither those…abominable mistakes of nature, Maverick is sure that killing those things will be an act of good will.

Putting those thoughts aside, Maverick began to walk slowly into whatever area the mutants where heading, soon he reached what seemed to be another metro entrance, just this one was over the entrance of the museum of history, and the Super Mutants had actually set a killing field in the entrance, mines, two super mutants with miniguns making guard and in the entrance of the metro line, on the steps, what seemed a base made by the mutants, taking a gamble, Maverick got closer to the base, there he saw something that not even Gallows or any other member of the brotherhood had seen.

Two super mutants speaking.

"Soon we will crush puny humans, kill puny humans!" one of them spoke, it had what seemed pieces of a car attached to the body as an armor, surely it would stop minor caliber bullets, and with luck some rifle rounds.

"No killing humans! Capture humans!" the other super mutant said, this one, like the rest had car pieces as an armor, but had in his head what seemed an aviator hat, it make him look like a dork.

"Killing humans, pathetic, weak, eat them, kill them all!"

Maverick was even witness of an even weirder sight, a super mutant hitting another one in the back of the head, hard.

"NO! capture them! Destroy the dish!" the other mutant bellowed, walking away angrily, Maverick had an inkling of what might these mutants wanted, these guys didn't looked like blubbering fools and beasts like Sarah said, but actually an organized force, with an objective.

"_They don't want Three-dog to keep broadcasting, but what they lose if the man keeps broadcasting a harmless radio station…unless…" _Maverick began his line of thought, _"Unless they fear him…no, not him…his message, whatever it may be…they fear he might rally the wastelanders against them"_ he thought, now truly believing the Super Mutants were worse, if not the same as the Enclave, albeit he had to wonder why they wanted prisoners.

"What about…the iron ones on…the big…pole" one of the mutants asked, that caught Maverick's attention, surely they were referring to the Washington memorial, but the iron ones…the brotherhood…

"WE call big brother, and destroy THEM!" the mutant with the aviator cap yelled, eliciting a maddening laugh of the other mutants.

Maverick had heard enough, slipping away he had a lot to think, obviously this 'big brother' had to be a behemoth, or something akin to a super mutant with a big weapon, a fat-man or something like that.

As he moved he caught movement on the corner of his eyes, it wasn't like those abominables, while their skins were pink, the things had human head and torsos, they lacked arms, out of the mouths of the things, what seemed three tentacles kept flaying around, the thing had also four legs, like some sort of mockery of a dog, holding its weight, there Maverick could see where the arms had went.

But soon Maverick eyes widened when the thing stopped, and turned to face him, actually face him, narrowing its multicolored eyes at him, then the thing gave a screech so loud that it echoed on the mall, and then pandemonium.

"Oh hell" Maverick muttered, seeing how the Super Mutants began to basically pour out of the woodwork, all snarling and looking around.

"_That…centaur can see me, but not them, how nice" _Maverick said, pulling That Gun and aiming it at the newly named Centaur, the thing seeing his every move, saw what Maverick was about to do, and attacked, the last thing the centaur did before a super-sonic rifle round opened a hole of the size of a human's head on its chest was to spit a brown solution that impacted the surprised Maverick on the leg.

Gagging at the sight of the brown spit, Maverick noticed how his Geiger counter began to tick, immediately this, alongside the fact the brown thing wasn't falling off, made the gaze of all the Super Mutants to zero on him.

"Shit!" he shouted, "Deactivate stealth mode!" he shouted as he rose That Gun at the same time his invisible cover was blown off, the first Super Mutant that spotted him fully was the first to fall, lacking the top of the head.

Two more mutants appeared to the left, immediately firing their assault rifles against Maverick, maybe in the space-station, with narrowed halls, Maverick's enhanced speed would be hindered, but here it was another story altogether.

The mutants were clearly surprised when they tried to hit something that moved as fast as a Deathclaw, perhaps even more, to Maverick it was something exhilarating, to move this fast, faster than the mutants could react, turn or aim, maybe he couldn't outrun bullets, but why want to outrun bullets when you can flank the assailant.

Zig-zag'ing around, Maverick gave a leap with the momentum he carried, he basically flew over the trenches, landing hard and in front of a super mutant, Maverick shoulder rammed the surprised mutant on the chest, sending it flying away, hard, then turning to his left he raised That Gun, letting a third shot meet a mutant, its arm being cleanly ripped of its elbow.

Suddenly Maverick eyes widened when out of nowhere he was lifted by a powerful blow to the chest, landing on one of the trenches, he saw an overlord, armed with what seemed a sledge made out entirely of metal, with padding on the striking ends of the weapon that seemed to glow slightly.

The overlord leaped down the trench, sledge already poised to strike Maverick down, but Maverick was faster, and he never released That Gun, rising his gun, he fired the last two shots at the falling mutants, in the eyes, the soft tissue was a perfect entry point for the bullets that opened twin holes on the back of the overlord's head.

Maverick rolled out of the way of the fallen mutant, holstering the spend That Gun he went for the body of the overlord, prying the sledge out of the hands of the dead mutant, then grinding, as if it wasn't enough with having super human strength, now he had a weapon that perhaps could withstand super human abuse.

Turning around he spotted a pair of centaurs, the things had already ratted him out, screaming all over the way, but he didn't care; he had a new toy, and a lot of space to maneuver.

With a roar he sprinted at both centaurs, noticing how mutants began to come around, glancing him as he rushed at the centaurs, super sledge in hand, then he swung…

* * *

><p>Reilly didn't know what to think, she and some wastelanders that got stuck in Underworld have been basically holding for dear life and waiting the moment the Super Mutants would basically ram themselves down to them, and in great numbers.<p>

The leader of the Reilly Rangers hefted her shogun close to her, now she knew what Butcher, Brick and Donovan felt when they made their stand in the roof of that hotel.

But then the shouting of the mutants, alongside the shooting made the think that this was not the case, either a wastelander had not been paying attention and got shot the hell up, or the brotherhood was finally staging a rescue operation.

This seemed to solidify once they heard the prolonged shots of the rifles of the mutants, alongside the screeches of the centaurs, their 'guard dogs' what got her worried of course was the sound of bullets basically traveling at super-sonic speed, a telltale of Gauss Rifles.

"I don't like this" she muttered, looking at one of her partners in this mess, she had came across with Sydney when she had awoken of her coma and had basically sprinted away of Underworld, on her way she had passed in front of the National Archives, and saw Sydney basically running away of two centaurs, limping like crazy and holding a backpack with something inside it, later she would learn this document was the original declaration of independence.

In any case Reilly helped her with the centaurs, after all the danger they really posed was of guard dogs near Super Mutants, and there were none nearby, by sheer luck, Sydney thanked Reilly by her rescue by joining her in going to the Statesman Hotel and helping her with the other rangers, when they arrived, they found out a lot of super mutant corpses, the trek had been long and perilous, and when they arrived they found out that the three rangers had survived out of a miracle, well most of them anyway, Butcher lost sight on his right eye, Donovan lost his left ear and had half of his face burned, and Brick stopped talking altogether, limping also.

After that, Sydney had become part of the group, the new Quartermaster, replacing Theo, and also was able to provide the unit with ammo; she had a lot of connections, that allowed them to have the edge over Talon Company for a while, that was until the Vault Dwellers came and basically put everything upside-down, well they made the wasteland a worse place to live, a real accomplishment.

"Is too quiet" Sydney muttered, Reilly agreed with her, suddenly the grand battle had gotten quiet; such silence was nothing good in her book.

"Brick, ready Eugene, I want anything that comes inside turn into Swiss cheese" Reilly commanded to the silent heavy weapons specialist of her group, Brick nodded at her vantage point on the stairs, not only her, Donovan and Butcher also hefted their guns and aimed it, the members of Reilly rangers were ready once again to make another desperate stand against the odds.

Soon they heard it, doors breaking, the Super Mutants had finally broke in, shots accompanying the heavy steps of the large mutants…

"DIE HUMAAAANNGGGHHHH!"

"I WILL SPALTTER YOUR-"

**BAMM!**

"STAY STILL! PUNNY HUMAN!"

**CRACK!**

This and many more disturbing noises emerged out of the main hall that connected the museum of history to Underworld, the shooting kept its frantic pace, and so the sounds of broken furniture, bones and the screams of pain of the Super Mutants.

Then it stopped altogether, again.

Reilly held her shotgun high, aiming it at the door, the silence allowed her to hear heavy steps, a telltale of a Super Mutant nearby, not only that, she could hear that something else was in the room, currently fighting the mutants.

"Do you think is the Enclave?" Sydney asked to Reilly, "I really hope not, we don't have the kinds of weapons to deal with them" Reilly confessed, knowing that the Brotherhood of Steel were the only capable of dealing with the Enclave on a battle.

"PUNY HUMAN! I'LL CRUSH YOU!"

"Oh shut up!"

**BAMM!**

**CRASH!**

Reilly and her rangers were startled when the main door was basically reduced to kindling as a Super Mutant master was thrown into them, skidding on the ground and stopping when it's head hit the makeshift sandbag cover.

Reilly lost no time and aimed her shotgun at the fallen thing, only to realize that it was already dead, its neck in an awkward position.

"What the hell!" Reilly muttered, looking up she took a gamble, retiring herself of the covering of the sandbags, she advanced towards the lobby where the T-Rex skeleton lay, once there she saw something that she swore would never see in a million years.

There stood a Vault Dweller, clad in what seemed the remains of a wastelander clothes, exposing what seemed a black armor underneath the clothes, a bandoleer slung over his shoulder and chest, alongside a holster on his chest, a super sledge on his feet alongside a broken shotgun, fighting and actually winning a fist fight against another master super mutant, around them a line of corpses of mutants of all classes, centaurs included.

She saw how the Vault Dweller ducked another swing of the weakened master mutant, retaliating with a devastating uppercut to the ribs that upon impact shattered the ribs of the mutant, the thing screamed in pain and took several steps back, that seemed a mistake the dweller capitalized as it tackled the beast, hard, bringing it to the ground.

On the ground, the dweller began to viciously hit the mutant in the face; the Super Mutant had little to do against those attacks, and tried in desperation to hit the dweller on top of him, but without success, two hard blows caved the mutant's skull, killing it instantly.

Reilly could only gape at this scene; it looked similar to massacres led by the Enclave to wastelanders and raiders, but seeing a lone dweller do this to Super Mutants, creatures that could kill power armored opponents with ease, made her…edgy.

Raising her shotgun, she took aim to the dweller, when he turned to look at her, she found herself surprised to see someone younger than her, hell he was perhaps the youngest vault dweller she had seen, and by the looks the first one that hasn't attacked her on sight, she attributes her survival to those encounters to sheer luck.

"Hey" the dweller said, she noted he didn't call her 'mutant' or 'scum' in fact he seemed…friendly, god forbids her thoughts.

"By any chance do you have…a dish relay with Three-dog's name on it?" the dweller asked, looking at Reilly in the eyes.

The leader of the rangers gave him a long look, trying to measure him, then slowly nodded, "Wait here" was all she said, she walked like a zombie towards the entrance of Underworld, once there, she looked at her rangers, her unit, then looked around, Underworld had become sort off their home after their former base was attacked by Talon Company, she was certain the Super Mutants the dweller killed where hunting them and the dish relay Three-dog had paid them to get, it seemed that he was done waiting and had send someone to retrieve it and place it on the Washington Monument, not realizing that he surely drew a lot of attention from the Brotherhood, the Talon Company now occupying the Capitol and the slavers in the Lincoln Memorial.

"Guys, pack everything, we are leaving this place" she said, she could see that no one wanted to comply with her orders.

"We have a dweller outside, he killed every single mutant attacking him…apparently barehanded" that drew some looks to her, "I know Talon Company will take this chance to attack us, and slavers are not picky on who they capture, besides we need a new base of operations, one that is not being attacked 24/7 by those three at the same time" Reilly replied, "Besides…I have a feeling with this guy" she said, a small smirk adorning her face.

No one questioned her on that, they didn't questioned her when she said the same about Sydney, about Butcher, Donovan or Brick.

Without a second glance the Reilly Rangers began to pack up, weapons, ammo, radios and computer hard drives were removed for transportation, Reilly looked this with a smile.

Walking away she went outside Underworld one more time, this time spotting the Vault dweller looking at the green glowing stimpaks with a frown on his face, "All the mutants carry it kid, don't know why, but they do" she stated, walking towards the dweller with some hesitation.

"You did well" she commented, looking at the carnage around them, it was just crazy to think a single kid did all this, yet every single mutant around them was dead, brutally she might add, she could see one of the mutants with a hole of the size of a human fist on the chest.

"Name's Reilly, of Reilly Rangers, my unit is packing up to mobilize; your little stun will surely draw the attention of Talon Company and the slavers positioned here, so before we move to the monument, I want to know the name of the guy who stirred the ant's nest, so I can curse it when they start shooting us" Reilly said, the dweller simply snorted at that, albeit good-naturedly, not mockingly.

"…My name is Maverick, nice to meet you Reilly" he said.

In the following days, she would learn that his name would carry a lot of things for all factions in the wasteland, many would fear it, and many would love it.

She? Well she would have the 'honor' of seeing first-hand why people would fear and love the name of Maverick.

* * *

><p><strong><em>and there you have it people, another chapter, like it? hate it? let me know about it.<em>**

**_now for somehting else, I have been installing a lot of mods for my fallout 3 game, and mos tof them have geive me a solid idea of what to do regarding my story, hell some mods even cover huge gaps on the base game, so if you see that i added somehting of a mod to the story, don't be afraid to let me know, maybe you guys have an even better idea to improve that idea._**

**_until a next time, this is Hypn0s! saying to you all rerad, review and live well!_**


	8. 7: A Message

_**Hello everyone, this is Hypn0s, retunring to you all with yet another chapter of the Chronicles of Maverick, this one has been long, just like the other chapters of my other stories to publish, I apologize in advance for this, but aparetnly inspiration just decided to hit me today, at night, so i worked without rest to get you this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it, and give me your feedback for it, i really need it to improve the nbext chapters even more.**_

_**without any delay I give you chapter 7, enjoy.**_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 7: A MESSAGE<strong>

_**Fifteen minutes later…**_

Gray had been surveying the battle ever since it started, and suffice to say he was scared the shit out of what he had seen.

To see a man, one as slightly skinny as the one he saw, basically laying a brutal beatdown to the Super Mutants, without mercy, using their own weapons and that overpowered handcannon that basically opened holes on the mutants with ease, was enough to put the fear of god on anyone.

The slaver thanked of course this battle, it seemed every Super Mutant was drawn to this man who had butchered them all with inhuman ease, this has allowed the slavers in the Lincoln Memorial to finally fortify their position around the monument, all while making sure to not approach the brotherhood controlled monument.

Of course Talon Mercs also moved as well, and had fortified their position outside the Capitol, which meant that a confrontation was imminent between Talon and the Brotherhood, and the survivors of course would be sold as slaves by them, the ever opportunists ones, in the wasteland those smart enough to see the big picture and seize the moment will always win.

So there he was, armed with a 10mm pistol and the standard slaver equipment, the Mesmetron, alongside a slave collar, he was hesitant of course to try and approach that guy, after what he did against the Super Mutants, he wasn't too keen on trying to mess him, especially considering that there was a chance that any target mezzed with the Mesmetron could not be affected at all, no submission, no rage, hence the reason of the 10mm handgun, or his head blowing up like if someone had jammed a grenade up their throats.

With a skill inborn for years of doing the same, tailing his prey and then attacking when they less expect it, Gray was already entering the damaged entrance of the Museum of History, seeing that the battle between the lone guy and the Super Mutants had dragged beyond the entrance, up to the very entrance of Underworld, once the home of the ghouls, or zombies as many called them, and apparently now the home of a group of mercenaries, yet he had to shake his head at the sight of so many dead Super Mutants, all of them presented the same horrible blunts traumas that caused their deaths.

Shaking his head, Gray kneeled and spotted his target, now at a closer range, he could see how the guy was dressed, or more precisely what he had under his clothes, he seemed to have a skin tight armor underneath, covered by normal clothes, a super sledge lay around, several super mutants dead and a pile of weapons on the feet of the guy, alongside ammo, also he spotted those green stimpaks the mutants used once in a while.

That didn't mattered anyway, he had a prime target, his Mesmetron aimed at the back of the man, and he only had to make the man look at him and the fire the Mesmetron in the face, then wait if the man became a slave or an aggressive corpse.

"Hey" he whispered, that single word always made people turn to look at him, human curiosity, it was his greatest weapon…

"UGGGHHH"

And it had failed him, the moment he said that, the man's arm had shot to him, the angle had reduced the force, but still it was enough, the man's arm had hit Gray in the face, sending him skidding to the ground, Gray by his part lost his grip of the Mesmetron as his back crashed some nearby debris.

Rubbing his sore jaw, Gray saw how the man stood up, slowly, there he saw in great detail one little thing he had missed.

The man had a pip-boy.

"Oh fuck" Gray whispered, in haste he reached for his 10mm and pull it out, aiming it at the vault dweller, "Get the fuck away from me vault dweller!" Gray demanded, the dweller didn't seem intimidated by the sight of the 10mm.

"I swear it; I'll blow your freaking head off!" Gray shouted in panic, his shouts causing other people to take notice of his presence, as he realized when he saw five people emerging out of Underworld, they recognized him immediately.

"Maverick that's a slaver!" Reilly screamed, that act scared Gray, making him pull the trigger of his gun.

The shot rang with great intensity on the hall, Maverick too several steps back, head thrown back, Gray let a small grin caress his lips, of course that grin vanished once he saw, like the rest, how Maverick regained footing, and he looked back at Gray, his forehead sporting a blackened spot, looking down, Gray spotted the flattened 10mm round.

"…That hurt" Maverick stated plainly, Gray let a yelp and aimed the gun at Maverick again, only for the former vault dweller to catch the gun in his hands, and then squeezed, the gun was unable to withstand the inhuman press and gave in under Maverick's hand, much to the shock of the slaver.

With a yell the slaver launched himself at Maverick, intending to escape, using his charge as a surprise for the dweller and pushing him away, only to be shocked when Maverick actually held him in position and tossed him away like a ragdoll towards a wall, the back of his head impacted the wall, and knocked him out immediately.

"The hell!" Maverick snapped, "First raiders, now slavers? God this place is a nuthouse!" he exclaimed, much to the surprise of the rangers, "You're the one to talk, you got shot in the face and you didn't even flinch" Butcher exclaimed, kneeling slowly and picking the 10mm round that was flattened.

Maverick by his part looked uncomfortable by this, especially considering the rangers and the slaver saw what happened, he had survived and impossible, a shot to the face, point-blank.

"…Things…were done to me" Maverick said slowly, flashes of what the aliens really did to him popping once in a while on his head, horrible things, things that would haunt his dreams.

"Stop" Reilly said, advancing to him, "I don't know you, true to be told I'm itching to order my squad to shoot you, you vault dwellers are more of a problem that you're worth" she stated, making Maverick scowl at her.

"But I can see you're different than them, for once you didn't killed that slaver…or even recognized it, so it means you are a different breed of dweller" she added.

"I left the vault six months ago while looking for my dad, got kidnapped and experimented, so excuse me if I don't every known faction in the Capital Wasteland" Maverick snapped to Reilly, making her raise an eyebrow, _"Six months, this means he wasn't inside the vault when the Enclave actually rolled inside, and experimentation can account for that freaky steel hard skin and inhuman strength…yet" _Reilly thought as she stared at the many dead mutants.

"You got the relay dish?" Maverick asked, snapping Reilly of her thoughts, "Yeah, but we got another problem in our hands" Reilly began, "While you did killed every single mutant that was present at the mall, maybe by them trying to hunt you, we still have two other problems, the slavers back at the Lincoln Memorial and Talon Mercs back at the Capitol, none of them hold love for Three-dog's show, they could take this chance to destroy the relay dish if planted, like last time, and finding another one will be nigh impossible, so we are going to pull something here, Sydney, you stay here, guard the dish by any means necessary, while, me, Butcher, Donovan and Brick deal with the slavers, that can be our new base" Reilly said, then turning to Maverick.

"As for you, I see you can handle an army well enough, so you can hit Talon Company back in the Capitol, they are ruthless and despicable, they would put a bullet on their own mother's head if paid, they are more beasts than man, but they have enough equipment to take an army, you take them down and you're free to take any weapon they have, ammo and armors, stimulants, anything, just be careful, Talon is known for being allied with the Enclave, so be prepared for anything" she warned, Maverick knew this already, Sarah had already told him who were allied with who in this war.

Maverick simply nodded at this, walking towards the fallen weapon of the slaver and picking it up, "That's a Mesmetron" Butcher spoke initially, seeing Maverick's interest in the weapon, "It's a standard slaver weapon, basically it scrambles the brain signals, making the target in theory, docile, but there are side-effects, the Mesmetron can frenzy a person to a level of madness never seen before, or worse, make their heads explode" Maverick actually blinked at that bit of info, looking at the weapon on his hands, then having an idea.

"Reilly, is there any chance there are robots on the Capitol?" Maverick wondered, checking the Mesmetron, "Of course, Sentry Bots mostly, heavy armored machines, miniguns and rocket launchers for arms, if I have learned something is that robot beats super mutant by a long shot, unless is a protectron, I swear those things are made of glass" Reilly muttered, seeing how Maverick opened the Mesmetron and began to tinker with it.

"I see…okay, move this cable…no rip this panel, place this node here, set this cable here, invert the polarities, there" Maverick said as he held the Mesmetron on his hand, now the front of the gun, instead of emitting a slight blue glow, was emitting a green one.

"What did you did to that thing?" Donovan wondered as he held his SMG on his hands, "I just inverted the polarities, the human brain works on electric impulses, each one transported to the body at blinding speed, nearly at the speed of light, the same could be said about robots, but they work with a CPU and a mainframe acting as a brain and nervous system, in short I made this gun capable of doing the same, but for robots only" Maverick said, "Although, I really don't wanna be close if this actually makes them blow, fission batteries are not exactly friendly in explosions" he stated.

Reilly, like the rest could only stare at him in disbelieve, like all vault dwellers, he was well versed on many arts, mechanics, medicine, history, pre-war warfare, mathematics, you name it a vault dweller knew it, but Maverick seemed more the kind of dweller who liked to work both mind and hands, and was resourceful, something not seen on many dwellers.

But one thing altogether different was seeing a dweller actually modifying a device that enslaved people, and turn it into something that could, in his words, enslave robots, or make them blow up, either case worked for them just fine.

"Hmm, Sydney, get me the scope of that damaged rifle" Reilly commanded, not a second later Sydney had pulled something out of her pockets, what seemed the scope of a sniper rifle, handing it to Reilly, the leaders of the rangers walked towards Maverick, handing him the scope.

"We don't have binoculars, so we use scopes of sniper rifles instead, I hope it helps you" she said, "Watch out for heavy gunners, I heard they have avenger miniguns and RPG's, I even heard they have a browning M2 and a 20mm autocannon, you can say that place is heavily defended"

"I've seen worse" Maverick stated, pulling That Gun and checking it, then holstering it back, "Besides they are human too, behind all those weapons an armors, they are humans, the can bleed…so they can die, just like everyone else" he stated, "Besides I think that after seeing someone getting shot and shrugging the shots like nothing is going to make them really…scared of me" he added, a small smirk on his lips.

"I guess" Reilly acknowledged, turning to the rangers, "Okay guys, hustle up, we are going to reclaim the mall" she said, looking at Maverick, then letting a small smile grace her lips, "Is time the Enclave and those bastards of Talon Company learn a hard lesson about manners"

* * *

><p>"You say the son of James lives?" Coronel August Autumn stated, truth to be told he actually didn't expected this news, the body of the son of James, yes, but not this, apparently the boy was more resilient than the other dwellers let believe before.<p>

Besides most if not all the vault dwellers had been trained beforehand by Enclave soldiers for survival, this kid hasn't and yet he had been able to put Amata on a pinch.

Regarding the woman, he stared with impassive eyes how the woman tried to explain herself out of the failure of taking down Jackie, apparently no one expected the girl to be helped by Maverick of all people.

"…yes" Amata said humbly, lowering her head off, Autumn hummed as he thought of the options, by one hand now they knew with certainty that the son of James, Maverick was alive, this would help in their plan to capture James, the man prove to be quite crafty in covering his tracks, at least for Enclave agents and Talon mercs, but also he had to think of the moral boost the news of a rogue Vault Dweller travelling with Sentinel Sarah Lyons would give to the BOS.

Even more considering what Amata told him, Maverick was experimented, by what she didn't elaborated, neither she nor the survivors of the mission said, only that Maverick was the human equivalent of a Super Mutant Behemoth mixed with a Deathclaw, bad enough facing one, but both at the same time, also she said that Maverick also had the Diamond sub-dermal Implant on him, which coupled with the inhuman strength Amata reported, made him a deadly adversary, one of care if he came along to train himself.

The coronel gave Amata a simple gaze, maybe the Enclave in the past had used Vault Dwellers as experiments, as records of an incident with residents of Vault 13 could attest to, but that turned out to be a bad mistake, maybe in the past they could afford this, but both President Eden and Autumn knew this was not the case anymore, they were lacking numbers, in the west NCR were hunting the remnants like animals, and here this war had already thinned their minimal numbers.

In these cases, desperate measures for desperate situations, and allying themselves with Talon mercs and inducting the vault dwellers of vault 101 were desperate enough.

There were benefits from this of course, the already pure gene pool was diversified even more, and they had access to the pre-war installations of Vault 101 and Vault 108…

"SIR!" Autumn and Amata were basically thrown out of guard by the scream in Autumn's intercom, yet the man showed annoyance by this.

"What is it, I'm on the middle of a reunion" Autumn snapped back at the intercom.

"I am sorry sir, but we just received a distress signal of the Capitol along with security footage…sir you got so see this" whoever was on the other side didn't elaborated, but the message was clear to Autumn and Amata.

"Dammit, what is going on did our scientists came across the FEV vat?" he asked.

"No sir, someone is attacking them, he breached the outer defenses and eliminated all the troopers inside"

"Wait…did you say…him?" Autumn asked, "Yes sir, the reports are sketchy at best, but they report a male Hispanic with jet black hair and brown eyes, with remains of clothes hiding what seems an armor underneath it, with inhuman strength and reflexes, not to mention invulnerability, they report that shooting him only makes him angry…they also say he has a pip-boy"

"Maverick" Amata hissed, this didn't went unnoticed by the good coronel, he was surprised by the level of resentment the woman held over Maverick, all about a boyfriend of hers being found dead after crossing Maverick's path.

Truth to be told he didn't care, but he couldn't deny that Amata was motivated, of course he had to ensure that her motivation wouldn't end up killing Maverick, the boy was more valuable now alive, even more with the experiments that gave him his inhuman strength.

"Send the hellfires, if what I have heard is true, then our intruder can take a lot of punishment, I want him down, but not dead, he is too valuable to us now" Coronel Autumn snapped to the intercom, "I'll be on the war room in five minutes" he added as he closed the line with the intercom, Amata by her part didn't like this at all, and made it known to the coronel.

"Maverick is too dangerous coronel, I know it, I barely survived him, I shot him two times, point-blank, the bullets simply bounced off his skin like nothing, I say kill him" she stated.

"Whatever history you had with Maverick, including resentment must be put to rest, he is an asset, he will find us his father, if we play our cards right" August stated.

"He knows what we want, thanks to that whore Sarah, he won't help us" Amata stated, only to Autumn to smirk, "He doesn't need to, ignorance is a bliss, after all" he said as he stood up and motioned her to follow him.

"Now let's go to the war room, I want to see first-hand what Maverick can really do"

_**Ten minutes before, the Capitol building…**_

Maverick slightly pocked his head out, using the scope handed by Reilly as binoculars, and using one of the trenches as cover, he was able to see the entrance to the Capitol, the stairs that once were used by senators and other important politic figures of the United States now were crawling with Talon Mercs, he easily recognized them, armor as black as their souls, with a white talon emblem on their chest plates, or so Sarah said to him before.

He spotted at least twenty of them, along with two Sentry bots, just like he believed, yet he didn't spotted turrets of any kind outside, it seemed that Talon Company believed in the old saying of 'safety in numbers' as the amount of weapons they carried, big guns, surely to deter Super Mutants of attacking.

This didn't worried him at all, he just took two dozens of green skinned 7 foot tall goliaths with bad attitude with a freaking sledge, Talon Company would prove to be the same.

Maverick slightly felt himself sick for thinking of killing people, but had to remind himself of something, these people were the bad guys, they killed, raped and pillaged if possible, they were no better than raiders, just better armed and armored.

Now the question was how to approach this situation, quietly or guns blazin—

**BANG!**

"DAMMIT" Maverick swore as he ducked and several rounds zipped over his head, all sniper rounds, while he knows his skin is as hard as steel, and the alien material over the stealth armor he wore would stop bullets dead on their tracks, his head was still a vulnerable spot.

"So much for stealth" he muttered, pulling That Gun out and readying himself, taking a deep breath, Maverick jumped into action, vaulting the cover and basically rushing at the Capitol.

This caused many mercs to smirk as they saw the foolish dweller rush at them, that of course became worry when they saw him approach faster than any other person know, the mercs raised their guns at the same time the sentry bots did and began to fire, to their utter dismay, only a handful of their rounds actually made contact, and even that didn't stopped the dweller.

Soon Maverick was a foot away of the stairs, there he ducked and suddenly jumped to the left when several explosions forced him to do so, on his right knee he saw a Talon merc hefting what seemed a minigun, but this one had three big barrels placed in a triangular manner and what seemed a shield, every time it fired, what seemed grenades came out, impacting the ground and blowing a chunk of it.

Raising That Gun, Maverick fired at the merc, the shield did little to stop the round that tore through it and his combat armor, sending him flying and loosing the autocannon.

With that obstacle out, Maverick pulled the Mesmetron and aimed it at the closest sentry bot as he scaled the stairs, firing the first shot, the Sentry bot went stiff when the green energy impacted on it, one of the mercs actually looked at the bot oddly…

**BOOM!**

Just to fly away in pain as the sentry bot exploited, sending shrapnel all over the area, seeing that the Mesmetron worked well with the machine he aimed at the other bot, just to see how the Mesmetron was shot of his left hand, looking around he spotted two mercs armed with revolvers with scopes, smirking at him, with a growl Maverick turned and fired That Gun, the two mercs died with surprised smirks on their faces.

Bolting to his right he aimed the last round at the last Sentry Bot, the round, once fired easily tore the heavy plate of the robot, disabling it.

Maverick's victory was short-lived as several round impacted him on the chest and left arm, making him stagger a little, the metal plate and his unnatural resistance allowed him to remain standing after that barrage, Maverick there began to ran, easily outrunning the shooters aim who tried to hit him, then he launched himself at the destroyed Sentry Bot, using the plating of the robot for cover, once there he allowed himself some breathe space and reloaded That Gun, replacing the alien battery as well with a new one, once done he spotted the damage done to his clothes, and marveled at the alien metal plating of the armor, Sally was right, harder than Titanium, lighter than a feather.

With the gun reloaded, Maverick holstered it and grabbed the Sentry Bot's body, then he began to use it as a mobile shield, blocking the rounds fired at him, once he positioned himself, he grabbed the bot by the waist and lifted him up over his head, the mercs there could only see with astonished eyes how Maverick rose the heavy bot with ease, and then toss it at them with equal ease.

One merc was not as lucky or fast as the rest as the bot crashed over him and crushed him.

With that distraction Maverick moved to the corpse of the fallen mercs, picking their revolvers, and noting that this were in fact magnums, scoped magnums.

"God, hand cannons with scopes, this can't get better!" he said, picking both guns and ammo, then turning to the mercs, a smirk on his face, then advanced, V.A.T.S. already active.

Each shot he made while advancing met it's mark, the intense firing began to dwindle as he un-loaded the twelve shots on the mercs bodies, once done he tossed both guns and turned to the close autocannon, picking it up he saw it still had ammo, enough to deal with anything, even under fire Maverick had time to set the thing for semi-automatic, he didn't want to waist ammo.

Looking up he saw just two mercs, the others long abandoned them and entered the Capitol, with a smirk he aimed the autocannon and fired two rounds at the still fighting mercs, neither had a change against the explosive rounds, their bits flying all over the capitol stairs.

Now on top of the stairs, Maverick looked to both sides, spotting to his left a vertibird, one with the Enclave logo walking to it, he saw the machine was empty, and apparently it had been this way for over a week or so, no one had used it, upon further inspection he saw why, the left rotor was full of bullet holes, making it useless for use.

With a sigh upon seeing a possible escape vehicle already disabled, Maverick walked towards the entrance, once there he hefted the autocannon and gripped it tightly, then he rose his feet and rammed it at the door, feeling rather bad that he was desecrating the entrance of a very old and important building.

But once inside he stopped feeling bad once he saw its occupants.

He knew that Sarah had bad blood with the Enclave, the brotherhood in general considering that the Enclave was better armed and armored, not to say trained, and while Sarah's ATHENA armor was by far the most advanced piece of Power Armor technology know so far, made by humans hands and slightly modified by Sally and the aliens, the Mark II armors the Enclave troopers wear are still a sight to behold and be intimidated with.

But the fact the two troopers had their laser rifles smoking, and the escaping mercs on the ground, surprised looks on their faces.

Realizing the troopers were going to shoot him next, Maverick hefted the autocannon and fired first, each round impacted on the troopers armor with a loud 'clang' and made them stagger, that allowed Maverick some time to realize how sturdy a Power Armor truly was to resist this kind of punishment.

Soon he ran out of rounds for the autocannon, seeing how the two troopers began to recover, Maverick tossed the heavy gun with all he had at the first trooper, if it wasn't for the armor, the trooper would have died in the spot after such thing being launched with such strength, yet he was send flying with the momentum of the gun towards a wall.

The second trooper saw this with shocked eyes, but was able to raise his gun and fire a single laser at Maverick chest, the surprise was for the trooper when he saw Maverick didn't even flinch at the hit, and saw that under the burned clothes was some sort of plate that absorbed the laser beam with ease.

Seeing the shock of the trooper, Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed it at the trooper's head, then fired, the head was the less armored part of any armor, so it was no surprise when the super-sonic bullet ripped a clean hole on the helmet, and the trooper dropped dead on the ground after such impact.

Maverick holstered That Gun as he approached the dead trooper, kneeling and picking the laser rifle, then aimed it when he saw the other trooper trying to stand up, only to not groan and then fall unconscious on the ground once again, the autocannon still over him.

With a slight snort, Maverick gripped the laser rifle on his hands, then looked around, spotting a door he advanced at it, and opened it, looking inside, he saw that the room he entered was mostly deserted, damaged, only ruins, fallen walls and dried blood, alongside discharged Microfusion cells and EC packs, not to mention the empty casings of guns, many of assault rifles, even more of bigger caliber.

What caught his attention was the amount of blood around, it was scary to a level to see so many blood pools, dried blood pools around, stains on the walls as well, most of them showed a recent gunfight, or something close, he could see several super sledges around, and sledgehammers, meaning super mutants were around here before, after all their strength allowed them to use any blunt object of such weight with effective power, besides him and humans in power armors.

The halls remained abysmally quiet, not even rats, or their post-apocalyptic and mutated versions could be heard scampering around, surely because the Capitol, while a prime area for breeding animals, lacked one important thing, a source of food.

It was when he made it to the Capitol rotunda, the one located on the west wing of it that he saw the presence of the Enclave and Talon mercs increase, albeit in weapons and material, not in people.

But the massive corpse of a super mutant did catch his attention.

"My god, so this is a behemoth" Maverick told to himself, looking at the massive beast that was over twenty feet high, his best and rough estimation, heavily muscled, with thick skin befitting a creature of such stature, uglier than anything he had seen, and that went far considering the aliens, the Deathclaws, the ferals and the overlords.

Running a hand near the arm of the beast, Maverick suddenly stopped, then rammed his fist at the arm, seeing how it easily sank on the heavy muscle and skin, pulling his right arm off, he cleaned the coagulated blood out of his arm.

"Rigor Mortis hasn't set yet" Maverick stated, "And probably never will" Maverick turned fast, aiming the laser rifle at the face of the surprised scientist that rose her arms in the air in panic, eyes wide at the reaction time, "Amazing, inhuman strength, inhuman endurance and reflexes, wearing an armor underneath clothes, yet is not power armor, wearing pip-boy, a vault dweller" the woman said, clad in what seemed a white radiation suit with an orange visor that nearly covered most of her head, if put on of course.

"I assume you're Enclave?" Maverick asked, the woman nodded, but slightly, "I am with the Enclave, but before I was an independent scientist, lacked resources for experiments, fatal flaw for scientists here on the Capital Wasteland, the Enclave heard of me, recruited me and here I am, running my experiments, just that, no soldier, you'll notice I'm unarmed" she stated, Maverick did noted that.

"Yet you're with them, I have heard of the Enclave, your reputation don't help you guys at all" Maverick said, rifle still aimed at her face, "Agreed, and the fact you are here means you killed everything opposing you, meaning you are an enemy, but knowledge has to be shared, and I see you are a cultured dweller, one that at least holds knowledge close" she said as she walked near the dead behemoth and slightly touched the hole Maverick made.

"The Super Mutant Behemoth, the highest setoff evolution of the Super Mutant line here on the Capital Wasteland, unlike other Super Mutants the Enclave has encountered, this batch is actually cleaner, lacking mutilations or cybernetics, odd enough they actually show signs of growing older, as normal creatures, this Behemoths is old, the older they get, the bigger they become, but also they become senile" the scientist added, making Maverick narrow his eyes.

"Overlords still talk fluid sentences" he stated, "Indeed, senility seems to take full hold between the Overlord and Behemoth stage, yet they are able to distinguish friends from foes, they are not feral" the scientist stated, "Skin, muscle and bones hard enough to deflect minor caliber rounds, armor piercing rounds and explosive rounds most effective way to end a behemoth, in extreme occasions using a fat-man works as well" she said, turning to Maverick, "And so does inhuman brute strength" she added, slowly putting her helmet on, "In two minutes they will be a roll call, and the officers you killed will not report, raising alarms, they will send their best against you, I would escape if I were you" she said, making Maverick raise an eyebrow.

"I don't think, I am valuable to them" Maverick stated, "Yes, the purifier" the scientist said, making him look at her, demanding her for answers.

"I don't know exactly what they want with it, besides the incredible asset it will be, people will be drawn to the purifier, whoever holds it holds the fate of the wasteland in his or her hands, beyond that I don't know, my field is zoology, mutated but still zoology" the scientist said, slightly looking at the other side of the rotunda, Maverick also caught it as well, his sharp ears allowing him to hear heavy footsteps, frantic, metallic.

"They are here" the scientist said, basically vanishing out of sight there Maverick realized that she had used a stealth boy to walk away, and just in time as at least five power armored individuals stormed into the room from one of the halls opposing his, holding what seemed hi-tech rifles that had green glowing barrels,, transparent, he could see several wires inside the barrels, spark sometimes running on the wires.

The moment the troopers saw him, Maverick was already sprinting and dodging with ease the green bolts that were being shot at him, unlike laser shots, which are in essence, light, and nothing alive can outrun light, these bolts were slow in comparison to bullets, he actually knew he could stand and actually dodge them without running around, but the moment he saw some of the bolts hit the flesh of the behemoth, and saw how some small patches of skin and muscle began to melt into a green goo substance, he realized that the troopers were armed with plasma based weapons, a technical advancement for humans, especially in the post-apocalyptic world, but he wasn't going to risk getting hit, maybe his skin can take bullets, maybe some explosions and perhaps a laser shot, but plasma shots could basically scramble his entire molecular system, and could perhaps bypass his armor, so he wouldn't take that risk.

On his improvised cover, Maverick could hear them approach, he couldn't see them, but he could hear them, that was enough for him, "Activate stealth mode" he whispered, immediately vanishing out of the spot, five seconds later two troopers had already flanked the position Maverick was, and had their weapons pointed at the location, only to see nothing, not even an evidence of the presence of Maverick before.

"The hell!" one of the troopers exclaimed loudly, Maverick resisted the urge to laugh at this, "Dammit, this is why we should have confiscated all stealth boys, that guy used one" the other trooper stated, closing in to the last position of Maverick, he moved out of the way of the trooper, knowing that where eyes failed, tact would succeed.

"I know he is here, he is using a stealth boy, just walk around and if you bump into something, shoot wildly, but don't shoot at me!" the trooper said, Maverick soon noticed that the rest of the enclave soldiers began to pour in, all wearing power armors, this one's however where more intimidating, the entire armored torso and back seemed like the one of a hunchback, with a fan attached to the back, surely these armors worked with more power, and by default needed a way to vent out the excess of heat generated by it.

They were getting awfully close, Maverick noted, but they were also edgy, scared, he could hear their hard breathing, swallow, how they slightly shook under their armors.

One of the troopers was so close that Maverick could hear him mutter "Where are you" under his breath, so close, assessing the situation, Maverick saw this was the moment to strike.

"Disable" he stated loud enough for the trooper near him to hear him, if the helmet wasn't on, then Maverick would have seen the horror stricken face of the enclave trooper, and then the one of pain as Maverick chopped him on the throat with all his might, the sickening crack of a broken windpipe caught the attention of the other four soldiers as they saw one of their own drop on the ground like a rock, unmoving.

Their reaction was fast after this, but not enough to match Maverick's unnatural speed, covering the distance between one of them, Maverick back-punched the plasma rifle out of the hands of the trooper, then pushed him with both hands with all enough strength to leave more than a dent on the armor, the trooper went flying with twin imprint of hands on his chest plate, to the shocked look of his fellow soldiers.

The third trooper rose his rifle and let out a single bolt of plasma, Maverick received the bolt on the left shoulder, yet it did little to stop him, pulling That Gun out, he aimed it at the trooper, letting two shots at near point-blank distance, the first pierced the armored gut of the trooper who screamed in pain, the second shot met the plasma rifle, which was send flying on a pile of scrap.

As the third trooper fell, Maverick's attention was instantly caught by the fourth one that forgo using his plasma rifle and favored trying to tackle Maverick down, the dweller simply grunted at this, only pushed a little back because he was caught off guard by the attempt, but then regained footing, suddenly ramming his left elbow to the back of the trooper, making the guy stagger but no relinquish his hold on Maverick.

"Attention all units, we have an intruder, level Omega!" the fifth trooper suddenly called, his right hand held over his mouthpiece.

With a snarl of anger, Maverick rose That Gun and fired it at the fifth trooper at the same time he slammed his left fist at the exposed fan of the fourth one, as the fifth trooper dropped like a sack of rocks, missing his head, Maverick's fist easily pierced the metal of the fan and made several pieces of shrapnel to basically be forcibly inserted on the back of the fourth trooper, the trooper simply screamed in pain at this, falling to his knees and trying to reach for his back, only to meet Maverick's feet on his armored face and being send to a wall where he broke his neck upon impact.

Yet the damage was done, instantly claxons began to sound all over the Capitol, alarms that made Maverick cringe, "Oh hell" Maverick said, holstering That Gun and pulling the laser rifle out, instantly Maverick opened the cover on the sides of the barrel of the rifle, removing several pieces that were fundamental to the controlled shots the rifle was famed for.

The AER9 laser rifle, unlike other models of rifles, like the far more powerful AER12 rifle, or the Wattz 2000 laser rifle, was mass produced for economy and facility of acquiring parts, unlike the AER12, which actually used gold as an important component, and the Wattz 2000, in essence was a sniper laser rifle, so very few of them were made.

What made valuable the AER9 was the ability to actually being able to shoot one focused, and continued laser beam if properly set, at the expense of burning the rifle internal components for the lack of a proper cooling method for them, and also if not dropped quickly enough, can actually burn the skin of the person holding it.

Maverick knew this, lasers of this kind were used extensively on the vault to cut or melt metal, and if well calibrated, can made a perfect incision on human skin, something his dad has done before, and no one has mimicked before, sure as hell beats using a rotating saw or a scalpel.

But what he had done went far beyond, usually this kind of continued laser beams could be fired five times, for five seconds, excluding the lasers used for medical procedures, which could be used indefinitely, but had to be fired very close at human skin.

Maverick took a gamble and was about to see if it paid off, aiming the modified laser rifle, Maverick focused his sights on the biggest entrance to the rotunda, opposed to the one he used, immediately the wooden and damaged doors were kicked open, letting in, to Maverick's surprise, a pair of Super Mutants, what surprised Maverick, besides their sudden appearance was also what was they were using for armor.

Instead of scarps of cars for armor, they were using Power Armors, custom made to fit their large frames, helmets included, the only reason he knew they were Super Mutants was for their skin color and standard 8-feet tall height.

The two armored mutants looked at Maverick, instantly, out of their armored forearms, what seemed five inch long curved blades came out, "Holy shit!" Maverick swore, raising the rifle and firing it, an intense and fine line of light came out, burning red, because he fired it without aiming properly, the effect was less than Maverick expected, yet slicing the whole arm off the body of an Power armored Super Mutant and the remains of a pillar still attached to the roof alongside part of a wall was enough for him, his modification had worked.

With a hiss Maverick tossed the now useless laser rifle aside, side-effect of modifying the rifle was that he had set it for just one, accurate and deadly beam, three seconds of pure cutting power, after that, the weapon would burn.

The armless super Mutant simply looked at its severed arm, and then charged at Maverick, the surprise of the enhanced vault dweller was great when he saw the thing shrug the damage and charge at him without any regard, this boded both well and bad for Maverick, for once he could engage the thing up front, on the other hand it had him slightly on the edge the fact the Super Mutant didn't screamed in pain.

Steeling himself, Maverick raised his arms and met the charging mutant head on, but to his surprise he was unable to stop the mutant instantly, instead of that he was tossed away like a ragdoll onto a nearby pillar, blinking in surprise, Maverick picked himself up and rolled away of the pillar as the second mutant tried to behead him with the large wristblade, only to meet the pillar, and seeing how the knife, added with the mutant's strength, neatly carved its way up to the middle of the pillar.

"_Dammit, I forgot power armors enhance natural strength and agility, how could I forgot that!" _Maverick scolded himself for this mistake, while the armor did little to enhance the strength of a human, due to the limited strength they have alongside agility, to Maverick, who was enhanced beyond human limits on those levels, thought little of a power armored human, now a super mutant, a monster capable of fighting him on even grounds, if backed up by other mutants, with a power armor enhancing their already prodigious strength, that was bad news for any person without armor-piercing ammo, or a really big gun.

"Okay, playtime is over" Maverick hissed, suddenly taking a charge against the mutant with all he got, just like with Lanius, just that unlike Lanius, the second super mutant was unable to stop Maverick's full charge, just like he was unable before, with a roar he lifted the armored mutant, slamming it then on the ground, hard, causing cracks to form around the beast.

The first mutant, upon seeing Maverick attack and take down the second, charged at him, bladed arm ready to cleavage Maverick in two, Maverick reacted at the charging mutant, pulling That Gun he fire a single shot at the chest of the mutant, the impact made the mutant to stagger and leaver an opening on its guard, Maverick holstered That Gun and rushed at the staggered mutant, once close enough he grabbed the arm of the mutant and swung him to the left, sending it flying towards the corpse of the behemoth.

The second mutant, already recovered, began to advancer at Maverick, once close enough it thrusts its left arm, ready to impale Maverick, only for the wanderer to move aside, then grab the arm, twist it until the elbow was facing him, and them ramming his own elbow with all he got at the exposed section.

The sound of bones breaking alongside bending metal was overshadowed by the sound or skin and muscle being separated violently as Maverick decided not to waste more ammo and time with the overgrown mutants, using the mutant back as leverage he pulled the arm off the mutant's socket, blood poured freely as the limb was separated and some bone pocked out of the end Maverick ripped, yet he wasn't interested in this, turning the limb so the blade was facing opposing to him, Maverick swung the bladed arm with all he got, aimed at the legs of the mutant, his inhuman strength allowed him to cut neatly the legs from the knees upwards, causing the mutant to fall with a cry of pain, now on the ground Maverick impaled the blade on the back of the mutant, right on the heart, instantly killing the mutant, regardless of the armor.

the armless mutant, now recovered, rushed at Maverick, only for him to turn and brutally punt the mutant on the stomach, slightly lifting the mutant of the ground, there he retaliated with several high speed punches to the torso of the mutant, each blow dented the armor a little and stunned the mutant with each blow, after blow number 20th he uppercutted the mutant on the chin, then jumped, ramming his elbow on the mutant's face, making it fall on the ground, there Maverick kneeled, grabbed the mutant by the head, and twisted, breaking the neck of the mutant easily.

Slightly panting, Maverick stared at the dead mutant, a cold feeling running on his cybernetic spine, down to every inch of his body as his blood enhanced with nanobots could reach.

"…God…what I am really becoming?" he wondered, he knew that in time he would become the strongest human to date, not to mention the most skilled one to fight, but the fact that he was being able to kill trained soldiers and overpowered mutants with ease actually scared him, he didn't knew what the aliens wanted with him, and he rather not to find out, and also he didn't want to find if he had a limit to his strength, he really didn't.

Shaking his head; Maverick focused his sights where the mutants had entered the room, reloading That Gun, Maverick made his way towards the entrance, not noticing the camera that followed his every move.

* * *

><p>"Did you see what he did to those enforcers?"<p>

"I can't believe he tweaked that rifle that fast?"

"He killed them bare-handed"

Coronel Autumn narrowed his eyes at this and many more exclamations of those who had seen the footage of the 'battle' if you could call what had happened a fight, more like a massacre.

While the footage of the dead of the first five troopers had been recorded previously, the fight against the mutants had been transmitted live, straight to the war room and to the president's office, god only knew what the man might be thinking after seeing this unfold.

"_Surely thinking how to make Maverick move to our side" _August thought, looking at his left, he saw the pale face of Amata, he couldn't blame her, apparently she can count herself lucky enough to not be brutalized by Maverick in the way the troopers and the enforcers had been.

"That armor underneath…it interest me" August mussed, "Corporal, I want footage of the cameras outside the Capitol" in an instant, on one of the screens on the walls, pre-recorded images of the battle prior to Maverick's entrance to the Capitol were displayed, the sight of several high-trained Talon mercs and heavy sentry bots being decimated was not too comforting to anyone on the room.

"God he killed them all" one of the corporals said, "Yeah, yet he looked at one of our vertibirds, why?" another one asked.

"Means of escaping with our tech, means of transportation, whatever was the case he abandoned it once he saw the damage, or perhaps simple curiosity, after all he seems someone who had never seen a vertibird before" Coronel Autumn replied.

"He hasn't Coronel, but I have learned that Maverick is someone full of surprises, when he escaped the vault, the guards assumed that he didn't knew how to shoot, well the well aimed shots to their chests when he was on the entrance say otherwise, they were lucky they were wearing bulletproof vests" Amata said, remembering that day well enough.

"Indeed, ETA of the hellfires?" Coronel Autumn asked, "ETA minus two minutes Coronel, they are already prepped and ready for dropping, should I tell them to be cautious?" a corporal asked, "No, tell them to treat the target with priority omega" the people of the room actually gave him a long shocked look, priority omega was given only to targets that are in extreme dangerous, like Deathclaws, in this case Omega means 'shoot, keep shooting, and while its down shoot a little more'

"The target is on the pens" one of the technicians stated, making everyone focus on the cameras following Maverick to the pens, "He is looking for survivors" one said, "Is a lost cause, that place is filled with ferals"

They all saw how Maverick looked at the pens, suddenly taking several steps back and turning his head with a grim look on his face as several emaciated hands and arms emerged out of the bars, trying to reach him with desperation, or hunger.

"He has always been a softy, he surely doesn't know we used wastelanders to feed the ferals on the pens" Amata said, looking how Maverick's face suddenly changed of grim to angry, shifting his sights around, spotting a terminal and making a beeline to it, everyone noticed the scientist near, slowly raising his laser gun at Maverick and firing it three times, not even stopping the former vault dweller, and everyone winced when with one punch, Maverick send the scientist head first to a wall, the orange plastic helmet doing little to protect his skull of the brutal impact and doing nothing to hide the pool of blood and some brain matter that emerged out of the fractured head.

As Maverick worked on the terminal, alarms began to flare out around the war room, "Sir, he is trying to break into the server!"

"Raise the firewalls!" Amata snapped, "We are trying, but he is actually delaying us…oh god he is downloading our maps!" August eyes widened at this, "How he can do that from that terminal!" he asked.

"The terminal is connected to the main server, so it could relay the info on the experiments directly to us"

"Disconnect it!" August bellowed, "We can't sir, he put a firewall on the terminal!"

"Damn clever mutant" Amata snapped, seeing how Maverick finished in the terminal, a smug look on his face, raising his head and facing the camera that had been following his every move, with a smirk he raised his pip-boy, a cocky grin on his lips, then pressed a key on the terminal, immediately after all the cells erupted in flames, alongside blood and gore.

"Hmm…he surely doesn't choke on making decisions, question is of course, can he do it with lives at stake, human lives?" Autumn wondered out loud, noticing the looks of several members of the unit around him, they were used to hear him muss like this, out loud, it had become something natural of him, and what he had mussed he had carried it out.

But it was wise to try the same with a man that could easily rip your spine off, then flail anyone around with so said spine?

Apparently Autumn and Amata believe so, the others, not so much.

* * *

><p>The double doors of the Capitol once again were violently opened; this time part of the door was reduced to less than kindling as another part was cleanly ripped out of the hinges.<p>

Maverick stepped out of the Capitol just in time to see an Enclave vertibird pass overhead, its rotors basically alerting every single living thing on the mall where it was.

He knew he didn't had the kind of firepower to bring that thing down, true That Gun had power enough to put a hole on the damn thing, but he had only five shots and then reload, five shots and reload again, to down something that big he needed something with a little more bullets.

With a slight growl, Maverick made his way back into the Capitol, spotting immediately several boxes that were surely filled with weapons, going to a stack of three of them, he ripped the cover of one of them spotting immediately a stack of laser rifles with several MF cells placed near them as well, he grinded, picking one of the rifles and ripping the cover apart, doing the same he had done to the other rifle before, this time however he would aim.

Once done he was outside, just seeing how the vertibird began its descend, "We can't have that now can't we?" he asked to himself, hoisting the modified Laser Rifle, rising, taking aim without some sort of iron sights on the dammed thing, and fired.

Properly aimed, the modified Laser Rifle worked like a charm, and beyond expectations, the concentrated beam sliced clean one of the rotors of the vertibird, causing the ship to lose both stability and altitude, for a transport that required both in control this was a recipe for disaster, yet Maverick wasn't satisfied with this, with the laser still on, he aimed the beam at the falling vertibird, the laser last moments were spend on slicing the back of the vertibird, exposing to Maverick at least five Power Armor clad individuals, surely special commandos of the Enclave send against him, their armors differed greatly in terms of bulk, it looked, more human looking, less to intimidate, rather more to withstand punishment.

Before he could make any more assessments, the vertibird fell to the ground, violently, rising dust and pieces of metal falling around and it began to make tumbles around, apparently trying to make a vertical crash-landing while spinning around is really bad, especially when all power to keep stability is devoted to a lateral rotor.

As the vertibird crashed and rolled around, he saw two of the commandos fly away of the hole he had made, one crashing head first on the ground, the way the head twisted indicated the man or woman inside was pretty much dead, the other had been lucky, it only landed on his left leg, the momentum made the leg bend from where the joints were exposed the most, meaning the knee and everything around it, the scream he emitted was not enough to drown the explosion of the vertibird, the once possible way to travel safely around the ruins of DC was now a piece of junk, its occupants surely burned or blown apart.

Shaking his head and wondering why everything he saw suddenly was enveloped in flames, Maverick tossed the now useless Laser Rifle and made his way towards the only survivor of the crash he had provoked, looking around he saw two more individuals, fast approaching, he easily identified the T-45d Power Armors they wore, and marked them as Brotherhood immediately.

He had to approach this carefully, he knew the BOS back in Galaxy News Radio knew he wasn't hostile to them, but that didn't meant the rest did, for all they knew, he was just another Vault Dweller clad in wastelander clothes to divert attention of himself.

Once he reached the fallen Enclave commando, he took a good look at the armor he had, it was not as stylish as the other armors he had seen on Enclave soldiers, this was more bulkier, plane, lacking the smooth curves the others hand, it was crude, effective, heavy looking, the helmet looked like a giant breather.

"Classy" Maverick muttered to himself as he heard the familiar sound of energy guns being powered up, "Freeze vault scum!" he heard, looking to his left he saw one of the two Brotherhood soldiers that were supposedly guarding the monument.

"Aren't you guys supposed to guard a monument so the mutants don't turn it into another breeding ground?" Maverick asked off-handy, shifting his sights at the gun the Brotherhood soldier had.

"A laser Gatling gun? They actually have of those here?" Maverick asked in shock, of all the things he had expected, a laser, laser mind you, Gatling gun was the last of them.

"You sound surprised" Maverick hissed, his eyes slightly turning behind him, spotting another Brotherhood soldier behind him, with a sniper rifle pressed on the back of his head, "You know, for a man wearing a collection of metal and bolts, you're quite silent" Maverick stated.

"So I have been told" the man said, slightly moving to Maverick's line of sight, there Maverick spotted a symbol he had seen before on Dusk's armor before, a symbol Sarah had explained its meaning.

"Lyons Pride" Maverick muttered, "You know of me, yet I don't know of you Vault Dweller, you are certainly a face I haven't crossed and match with them" the man said, "I'm not with them, I have been…out for six months" Maverick stated, looking then at the fallen Enclave Commando, slowly stirring up.

"Six months…that's the time this damn war began" the man said, "So I have been told…" Maverick muttered, then narrowed his eyes, "Well, sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up" Maverick said, advancing to the fallen commando, feeling the guns of both BOS soldiers trailing him, "You got answers to my questions, you better start talking" Maverick added, looking down at the fallen commando.

Not a second later the commando had whipped out a plasma pistol and fired a single round, the two BOS were shocked when Maverick didn't recoiled by the point-blank shot to his chest, instead slapping the gun away, the hi-tech weapon turning into scrap long before it reached the ground, then lifted the commando by the chest plate with one hand, just to slam him to the ground, hard, the armor groaned after such impact and stress generated against its frame.

"That wasn't smart, let's try again, why you people want my dad's project?" Maverick asked, when the commando didn't answered his question, Maverick backslapped him, with the helmet still on, the fact he backslapped the helmet out of the head of the commando was enough to shock the two Brotherhood soldiers behind him.

"I'm running out of patience asshole; tell me what relates my father with Project Purity? What makes him so important?" Maverick asked, the commando seemed to catch on who he really was, and actually grinded.

"I'm just a grunt boy; you think I hold the answers? I am below the food chain, I'm ordered to bring you to Coronel Autumn and President Eden" the commando said, making Maverick sneer at him.

"Coronel…president…does those two know that the old world and its governments were burned?" Maverick asked, "The Enclave endures, the old world died, but not the leaders" the commando said.

"America is burned to a husk; there is no United States anymore, no more government, no more borders of flags, no more gods or masters" Maverick snapped, releasing the commando of his grip, hard, the commando's body actually rose a little in the air by the force before landing again on the dust.

"The Enclave is America, it is all America should be, the communists are gone, but now mutants are around, in our land, this is a chance to make things right, your father will be the first step towards rebuilding our great nation, clean of you freaks" the commando hissed, only to blink in fear when Maverick pulled That Gun and aimed it at his head, eyes narrowed, just to grunt and tuck the gun away.

"You're not worth the shot" Maverick said as he turned to the Brotherhood soldiers, then focused his sights on the Washington monument, to be more precise the tip of it, spotting a round object placed on the top of it.

"Looks like she went against orders" Maverick stated, "Yeah, a girl with green combat armor identified herself as part of Reilly Rangers, she was carrying a relay dish with her, now this place has again a strategic value" the Gatling laser wielding knight said.

"Yeah, and since the mutants are dead…" Maverick trailed off, "Don't fool yourself kid, damn Frankenstein's are like radroaches, just uglier, they will come back, but they will be cautious, somehow they always know that someone killed a unit, and always send something bigger to deal with it, I would be cautious if I were you" the other knight stated, lowering his gun and keeping it in hand.

"But that means they must have a base, a place where they gather troops, those mutants are not born naturally, they are most like…made" Maverick stated, "They are, we don't know where they live, but when we do…oh when we do" the knight with the sniper rifle said with eagerness.

Maverick just shook his head, holstering That Gun and gazing at the Washington Monument, looking at the base and seeing some green figures there.

"Well, you can have him, I don't care, he knows nothing" Maverick exclaimed, surprising both knights, "I have some things to talk with the rangers" With that he began to walk away.

"Wait" the sniper wielding knight said, making Maverick stop, "yeah?"

"You know of the Pride, yet we know nothing of you or how you know about us, speak" the man commanded, Maverick just shook his head, "I'll answer this with a small riddle, who is the key member who has been missing on your group?" with that Maverick walked away, this time not stopping.

For his part, knight Gallows, once the spec ops specialist of Lyons Pride and expert tracker could only stare dumbly behind his helmet as he saw Maverick leave, leaving him with a piece of information that would bring life back to Elder Lyons, and to the Brotherhood of Steel in general.

"Sarah's alive…she is alive" blinking several times, seeing how Maverick had become a single dot on the distance, "Knight Corral, call in the Citadel, request a vertibird to the GNR plaza, priority one, we found Sarah"

For his part, Maverick easily made his way to the entrance of the monument, there he saw the assembled rangers, reloading their guns, and apparently having found a stash of guns and ammo, alongside of pieces of a combat armor around, overall they looked rather pleased with each other.

"Gotta say Maverick, you handle yourself pretty well" Reilly began, reloading her Magnum and then holstering it, her smile was playful, but her eyes were dead serious, a quite offset.

"I never knew Vault Dwellers were this strong" she admitted, "They aren't, is just me" Maverick admitted, looking at the loot in front of him, "I assume it all went well in the Lincoln monument" Maverick said.

"Is just slavers, they are the boogieman of children and small towns, but they are not soldiers, they barely can lift a gun to fight, true they might look tough to slaves, but that's about it, I bet you could have deal with them with just a switchblade" Reilly admitted.

"Beyond that, you prove you are not with the Enclave, you shot one of their Vertibirds, and those knights didn't shot ya, so I can say you're one of us, in a way of speaking" Reilly said, making Maverick blink, "In a way?" he asked.

"You are strong, too strong, even for human or Super Mutant standards, people are going to be afraid of you, if not for your Vault Dweller status it will be for your strength…and some things we have seen at nights" Reilly began, that seemed the cue for Donovan to make her place.

"About a month ago several shades have been seen at night, near the Yao Guai caves, that terrain is highly irregular, filled with slopes, caves and small mountain formation, perfect ambush spots, survivors tell tales of men dress in red and black, carrying spears and machetes…"

"That look like sport gear jury rigged with leather and metal instead of military combat armor?" Donovan nodded, making Maverick narrow his eyes, "Legion" was all Maverick muttered, making the rangers blink at him.

"Listen guys, whatever you do don't go those ways, I think I know what lies there, and is not Yao Guai, whatever the hell those things are" the rangers actually looked at him oddly, not believing he didn't know what a Yao Guai was.

"Try to warn other settlements, tell them to not venture themselves at night, keep an eye on anything that might come of those areas" Reilly was about to ask him why until he cut her off, "During my time out, I found a group of people matching the description you gave me" he said to Donovan.

"They call themselves Caesar Legion, led by a man called Caesar, I don't know much beyond what a friend told me but they are a very organized raider tribe taking roots on the former Roman Empire, long before even the bombs were a single dream, they are bad, and numerous, but ill equipped, spears and knifes do little against firearms, but do be careful, what they lack in equipment they have it on loyalty to the Caesar and numbers to overwhelm almost anything" Maverick informed them, kneeling in front of the pieces of the combat armor, and started to pick some pieces.

"You say they are raiders, what do they want?" Butcher asked, "Veronica said to me they are a very slaver organization, their entire empire is based on slaving people, crushing tribal tribes and assimilating them, I guess the Capital Wasteland is a prime place to pick slaves to swell their numbers, considering we are not as organized as their sworn enemies, the New California Republic" Maverick added.

"We keep that in mind" Reilly said, "Besides that, you can prove to be that something to tip the balance against the Enclave" Reilly said, "Pick any gun you want and the armor pieces you want, think of it as thank you for helping us" Reilly said, to her surprise Maverick just picked two 5.56mm ammo clips and the remains of the combat armor that looked that could be salvageable and actually could protect something, then took a backpack, one that they had taken of the slaver camp in the monument and he began to pack the armor pieces, also packing the ammo and actually taking only one gun, a single 9mm handgun, a rare thing to see in the Capital Wasteland, considering that 9mm ammo is both rare and weak, it might work to scare off unarmored opponents and shoot down dogs, radroaches, molerats and actually could put a feral ghoul out of their misery, but beyond that it worked for shit against the rest.

"I think I might be able to pull out the potential of this bad boy" Maverick said, packing the handgun and swinging the backpack to his back.

"Okay then…I guess thank you and goodbye?" Reilly actually smirked at that, "Hardly, if things turn out as I think, then we will see each other next time, just remember the Reilly rangers are watching you, don't mess up" Reilly said cryptly, making Maverick roll his eyes, "Apparently everyone has spies looking over me" Maverick muttered under his breath, walking away in the same direction he had taken upon making his way into the Mall, something Reilly noted, but someone else voiced it.

"Hey kid" a raspy voice, female, made every ranger freeze, looking behind they saw Brick, the heavy guns specialist who had gone mute after her ordeal on the hotel, actually speaking, the trauma, according to Butcher, had left her without voice, that and screaming out-loud "Die Motherfuckers, die, die, die!" while firing Eugene.

Of course that was what Reilly knew and was able to get out of Butcher, in reality, Brick got nearly mauled by a Super Mutant Master, her screams and the fact the mutant had been straddling her the moment it was about to cave her head in with its meaty fist made her believe he was going to kill her, then rape her body, that kind of trauma got even the most crazy, chem. Addicted and brain fucked female raiders screaming their lungs out.

And while there was no real professional in the wasteland that could actually take Brick out of her silence, apparently seeing the line of dead super mutants, most of them brutally mauled by what Donovan kindly called 'a Deathclaw on buffout and Physco' had finally snapped her of her funk, and had made her see, apparently that there was something far worse out in the Capital Wasteland, and fortunately it was out to kill her or the Reilly Rangers.

"That's a one way road" Brick began, "No stairs, or ladder" she added, knowing like the rest that he was taking off to GNR, and usually the only way to make it back to GNR was going through the feral ghoul filled metro or try their luck on the Super Mutant infested streets to reach a more direct road.

"Stairs?" Maverick asked, a mocking smile on his lips, "For me they are overrated" with that he took off at an impressive speed, suddenly jumping and vanishing onto the entrance to the metro lines he had emerged, just for his head to pop up a second later.

"OH! ALMOST FORGOT, REGULARY DRINK WATER OR A NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK SO YOUR THROAT GETS WELL, DORCTOR ORDERS!" with that he vanished, this time for good.

"…well that was random" Sydney muttered to Butcher who could only nod, then to growl, "Doctor's orders my ass, I'm the only doctor around"

"Let it go Butcher, he did a lot to help us" Reilly said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Okay people, let's start packing, the Lincoln memorial is about to become our new base" she said, walking away of the Washington memorial, seeing how the brotherhood knights also made their way to the memorial, surely to guard it, this time for good.

"Good luck out there kid" she muttered, a small smile on her face.

* * *

><p>Sarah glanced at Veronica, the brotherhood scribe simply rose an eyebrow, pointing at Three-dog, the man was apparently jumping on a leg, a happy grin on his face, it didn't take a genius to know what had happened.<p>

"Looks like Maverick got the relay dish" Sarah said, "And in record time, you know when all this blows over, I might suggest him to become a courier, he is fast an efficient" Veronica stated.

Sarah simply smiled, knowing that Veronica was just trying to strike a conversation with her, the other knights didn't want to talk with Veronica, maybe because Veronica was too talkative, something odd among knights but not so much for scribes, or maybe because the slight grudge among scribes and knights, one fights, the others built, it is inevitable that the ones fighting break something the others built, or maybe they found Veronica a stranger in a place she didn't belong to.

Whatever the case veronica had pretty much gave up trying to talk the knights and had settled on seeing what kind of upgrades Sally and Maverick might have added to her displacer gloves, Sarah of course found odd that a girl like Veronica, a scribe no less liked to go physical with almost anything in front of her, most scribes used ranged weapons rather than risk a fist fight, mostly because of their weak body constitution, this was not the case with Veronica apparently.

"Maverick is taking too long" Sarah muttered to Veronica, she expected that with the open space, Maverick would move far faster than the narrowed aisles of the space-station, which apparently wasn't the case.

"Maybe he's having a romp with a wasteland chick" Veronica said, making Sarah to nearly lose the grip of the Boomstick, which would have landed on her foot, and would have her scream bloody murder, and actually murder Veronica for that.

"Well, unless he might swing for the other team" Veronica suggested, this time drawing a horrified look of Sarah, "Good lord no" Sarah snapped, making Veronica smirk, "And how do you know this?" Veronica asked.

"Simple, he watched my butt…I walked into that one didn't I?" Veronica nodded with a satisfied smile, "Don't worry about Maverick, I bet he is fine and…"

"Ah, the hero of the wasteland returns!" the jovial voice of Three-dog made Sarah and Veronica sigh, "And has returned…from where he exited GNR in the first place" Sarah muttered, earning her a look of Veronica.

"Well, the station was rather cramped, we don't know if his speed and strength is also added to his jumping ability" Veronica said, dusting herself and heading to Three-dog's studio, Sarah doing the same, albeit a little slower, she would have gone far if it wasn't for Dusk suddenly grabbing her arm.

"Sarah, can I have a word with you?" Sarah nodded, following her former sniper specialist to a secluded spot, there she saw Dusk slowly taking a seat, grimacing along the way, something Sarah noted and Dusk clarified immediately.

"I got shot, a week after you vanished, armor piercing rounds shot by an assault rifle, wound is healing slowly, NCR is here" Dusk said, making Sarah raise an eyebrow.

"We don't know why they are here Sarah, as far I know, NCR and the brotherhood had never been on friendly terms due to technology handling, I don wonder what they are doing here, and how they made it of the other side of the country without crossing the wasteland and made it here" Dusk said.

"Maybe they have boats Dusk, remember that vertibirds are not the only means of transportation, besides NCR have more resources than the brotherhood will ever have, that and people, a lot of people" Sarah reminded, remembering the info the scribes had told her about the New California Republic, the fact Veronica came of an area with a heavier presence of NCR personnel made their presence of the Capital Wasteland ever so more strange, not worrisome.

Besides if Michael and Solo were led to believe, NCR had enough problems in New Vegas with the Legion and a man called Mr. House.

"Maybe they are just a recon unit, is nothing to worry about" Sarah brushed that off, only to hear Dusk to scoff, "Don't be so sure Sarah, I spotted them, they spotted me, I saw them first hand, NCR First Recon Snipers" that did brought some worry to Sarah, usually First Recon was deployed against high sensitive targets, very sensitive ones, what the hell a group of the best marksman NCR had to offer would do in the Capital Wasteland?

Unless…

"Project Purity" Sarah hissed trough teeth, earning a look of Dusk, "They found out about Project Purity, they want it" Sarah concluded, and Dusk had to agree, even NCR valued water, pure water and non-irradiated food as primordial, without them the NCR would fall, it made sense the NCR would come all this way to see if the rumors about a massive water purifier just inches of a river that was fed by the ocean was true, such amount of water would bring prosperity to anyone, anyone.

"We need to find Maverick's father" Sarah stated, turning away, "He is the only one who knows how Project Purity works, he can help us" Sarah stated, "Or he can kill us, he is a vault dweller, just like his son" Sarah harrumphed angrily at that, "Maverick is not going to turn on us Dawn, get over your hate" Sarah said, "Sarah…" Dusk began, really worried by Sarah.

"Listen to me Dusk, Maverick can be trusted, he saved my life several times, dammit he helped me escape that hole I was in, he actually killed two vault dwellers, people he grew with, one he tossed it with a grenade in hand, the other he smeared his thoughts all over the wall with That Gun, he also fought Amata, he is different" Sarah said, earning a look of Dusk, "Yeah, a freak" Dusk muttered.

"I'll make like I didn't heard that Knight, but I expect you to work with the Vault Dweller from now on, is that clear?" Sarah commanded, Dusk simply hissed, not believing Sarah would pull rank just so she would behave with the freak of 101.

"Yes, Sentinel" Dusk hissed, "Good" Sarah sighed at that, she was about to say something else, but then shook her head, walking away towards Three-dog's studio, but then stopped, "Don't think I haven't forgotten what the dwellers of vault 101 have done to us Knight Dusk, don't think I haven't forgotten Dan" Sarah chocked on that name, the name of her former fiancé.

"They will pay for all they have done" she said with conviction, "The fact two of their own will be the keystones to do so makes the wait to that day even more worth" Sarah added, finally walking away, making Dusk rub her temple with her fingers, realizing that Sarah was not done with her revenge, but now she had the means to do so.

As Sarah left the room Dusk had guided her, she slightly let a tired sigh, she was right, Maverick and his father would cause the fall of the Enclave, and also the fall of the vault dwellers, the thing was that Maverick would not try to kill them, he had a past with them, one that made him soft against them, oh he would disable them, beat them, but not kill them unlike he did against the Legion soldiers and surely he did against Enclave troopers back in the Mall, if Dusk was led to believe about their presence there, but against the people he grew with, true he shot Paul Jr and tossed Wally before he blew himself up, but both had been during extenuating reasons.

That's why she would be near him when that happened, she was going to make sure that the job was done completely; she would do what Maverick dared not.

"THE HELL YOU MEAN!"

Sarah snapped her head up, the scream of Maverick made her react immediately, sprinting to the studio, just like the rest of the knights, once inside they found themselves staring at a very pissed Maverick, his fist trough a wall, Veronica looking rather pale, and a upset and sad Three-dog, tiring his best to calm the super strong vault dweller.

"How it happened" Maverick asked, pulling his fist of the wall, his eyes demanding to the DJ to talk or else, but of what Sarah didn't knew.

"It happened a…week ago" Three-dog began hesitation on his voice, "We don't know how it happened, but one minute, The Enclave and Rivet City is engaged on a battle, and the next…the next…Rivet City goes boom" Three-dog said, the magnitude of his words made Sarah to blanch on her spot, "…Say what" Sarah asked, making herself know.

"Is like I tell you girl, one minute is all battle, the next is like God decided to spit on Rivet City, boom" Three-dog said, nervous by the looks Sarah was giving him, "It can't be…it just can't…do they really have orbital strike capabilities?" Maverick wondered out loud, running his hand on his hair.

"Maybe, they are part of the old government, many of the secrets of the government of that era must be theirs, including weapon stashes" Three-dog said, Sarah just grunted, making her way to the DJ and grabbing him by the shirt, lifting him up easily.

"Are you telling me that the Enclave has a satellite that can shoot us from space at any moment?" Three-dog nodded, but with hesitation, with a yell she released the man, and then began to pace around.

"Enclave forces, Brotherhood forces, mercenaries, citizens, no one was spared of that attack, the survivors of that attack were few, they say four…fireballs fell out of the sky, first a small boom that split the clouds, then a bigger boom, that split River City apart, three out of the four fireballs met the ship, the last one met the battleground, killing many Enclave soldiers and Brotherhood knights" Three-dog said.

"Fuck!" Sarah exclaimed loudly tossing the boomstick and pacing around, anger etched on her face, "Bastards! More of my brothers dead!" she exclaimed, then stopped her pacing and took several deep breaths, shuddering as she tried to control her emotions.

"Was Doctor Madison Li inside Rivet City?" she suddenly asked.

"No, she is on the Citadel currently, working on something, whatever the hell she is working" Three-dog answered, there Sarah seemed to perk up, "Liberty Prime" Sarah muttered, making all the knights to perk up at the mention of the name.

"Maverick" Sarah began, "Try to contact Sally, tell her to set the weapons to any satellite that has some sort of orbital strike capability that is currently lined to us at the moment, I don't care if she burns everything on the sky, I want that satellite in pieces" Sarah said, suddenly stopping, and thinking something over, "Better yet, tell her to hack the satellite once she finds it, they want to play dirty, then we'll play dirty" Sarah said, walking away of the studio.

Maverick looked at Sarah worriedly, then followed her, everyone was wondering what might this Sally might have that could actually take down a satellite currently orbiting the Capital Wasteland, Veronica knew, and she wasn't going to tell in that moment.

"Sarah, Sarah!" Maverick exclaimed, following Sarah to the plaza of GNR, there he found her, sitting on a bench in front of the fountain, her hands on her knees, tears on her eyes.

"Fuck! Dammit!" she exclaimed, trying hard to stop her tears but no avail, looking up she saw Maverick, just standing there, Sarah tried hard to keep the tears, so many lives lost, and for what? For what? The delusions of a man who believed himself to be a president and able to rise back an old nation that was already dead and buried, its carcass already picked of every piece of meat, leaving just bones, just bones.

People were dying for bones.

"War…war…fucking sucks" Sarah chocked, rubbing her face and trying to dry her tears with the padding of her armored gloves.

"Is not fair Maverick, is just not fair" she stated, "There were children, elderly, my brothers and sisters, a whole city…just…just blown apart" Sarah said, rubbing her face, "What can we do against people like that, who are willing to kill their own men and kill innocent people just to win a position" Sarah asked, Maverick by his part just seated at her side, and placed a hand at her armored shoulder, she saw him try to fight for words, try to say something to her, some encouragement, anything, but what he could say after finding out an entire city, its people, and both brotherhood knights and Enclave soldiers had been killed in an attempt to take control of a place that was so close to Project Purity, that lives were wantonly destroyed by just the whim of a man.

Maverick didn't know what to say, he just toyed with his Pip-boy for a while, then seemed to stop, and continued his vigil of Sarah, for five minutes.

"Maverick, Maverick!" Sarah suddenly perked up when she heard sally's voice emanate from Maverick pip-boy, realizing just now that he had just send a message to the girl genius, surely stating their current situation.

"I'm here Sally, and so is Sarah, did you find it?" he asked softly, his pip-boy close to his mouth, "Yeah, according to specifications I hacked of this satellite, is more of an orbital platform rather than a satellite, Bradley-Hercules is the name given" Sally began, Sarah took several deep breaths, glad to know that Sally had control of the orbital platform now.

"According to specifications here, propulsion systems are offline, so in order to target something, it has to wait until the rotation and translation of Earth, alongside its orbit can allow a targeting solution, then it can fire its payload, eight ARES class warheads, it already fired four of them…I'm sorry about Rivet City by the way" Sally said, Sarah simply smiled, knowing now that Maverick must had send more than just a message with their situation to Sally.

"Okay…right now the Enclave doesn't know I have control of their little toy, and the mothership has two warheads of its own for orbital assaults, according to Maverick's pip-boy map info, which I hacked after he send the message" Maverick gave his pip-boy a look of utter shock, Sarah believed he was trying to relay that shock to Sally.

"So I can do this, in five minutes the platform will be just right under Raven's Rock, Jackie told me that's the Enclave's base of operation, a base under a mountain, the four warheads won't do much, unless I soft them with the warheads we got here" Sally suggested, Sarah grinded at that, an eye for an eye.

"Do so Sally…and thanks" Sarah said, she could hear the slight sigh of Sally at that, and apparently she wasn't over with the transmission.

"Hey, I have been getting a lot of radio signals here, most of them are music of all the world, meaning we are not the only ones alive, thankfully, I isolated the ones that are on a loop, and are over 100 years old, I tell you is quite a number" Sally stated.

"Getting into topic, I also got the Enclave's radio signal, more specifically, their radio program" That drew Sarah's attention.

"So…I got this little wicked idea" and to Sarah and Maverick, Sally's wicked idea was, in layman terms, rubbing salt on an open wound, with a piece of rusted metal.

Raven's Rock had always been the center of the Encla

* * *

><p>ve operation, at least in this part of North-America, once in a time, The Poseidon Oilrig had been their base of operation, far, secure, and only accessible to them, that ended when a tanker docked with the Oilrig, with it the so called Chosen One, Grandson of the Vault Dweller, the man who killed the Master, and had basically with his presence and actions, lay the foundations that later would be the New California Republic, it was no mystery to the soldiers why there was a statue of the man who did things 'his way'<p>

The Oilrig didn't last much against the Chosen One and his companions, not even the super soldier Frank Horrigan was a match to the boy, and then he blew the Oilrig, alongside with the president of that time, at least his body.

The Enclave was far from over of course, but their base at Navarro was seized by both NCR and the Brotherhood, there they realized that the Chosen One had dealt a crippling blow, one that had yet to recover from, even to this days.

Anyway, the outside of the base, as usual, was bustling with life, soldiers doing rounds, or training, or in the open fire-range, one with living targets, mostly ghouls, and the occasional vertibird leaving trough the exposed hangars inside the mountain slopes.

That seemingly calm died out the moment two blue ball of energy suddenly impacted on the mountain, the shockwave caused dust to rise, and any living being close enough to the epicenter to be killed by sheer kinetic force alone, their organs turned into less than jelly by the concussive waves.

Those were the lucky ones, the unlucky ones, the ones alive saw how the dust settled, and saw the now red hot mountain rock, melted and softened by the attacks.

Then they turned their heads at the sky, as four soft 'booms' spilt the clouds, and then their world turned dark and violent as four warheads fell of the sky and tore Raven Rock apart.

* * *

><p>Creatures and wastelanders alike looked upon the rising mushroom cloud that rose on the horizon, just like it did on Rivet City a week ago, but the fact remained, there was no settlements on those areas, it was Enclave territory, not to say Yao Guai, Deathclaw and Radscorpions land, basically suicide to settle there.<p>

The shock came when the usual Yankee Doodle song that played on the Enclave radio station was suddenly interrupted by static, and then by a voice.

"Uh, is this working? Did we hijacked their signal?"

It was male obviously, young, it didn't had that tone of someone who had been born on the wasteland, surely a vault dweller, many wastelanders, even raiders were able to identify the dwellers by voice alone, not to say looks, they were far cleaner than the average wastelander.

"Yes it is, now speak dammit"

This time a female voice cut trough, this one had the telltales of a wastelander trough and trough, harsh, sharp, to the point.

"Okay, okay, sheez woman don't bite my head off"

"Dammit Maverick"

Many wastelanders and raiders, slavers and slaves included were drawn by this odd exchange, something too bizarre, even for the Capital wasteland standard.

"Okay, where to start…well as Sarah plainly put it, my name is Maverick" the male voice began, no one recognized his name, but many did recognized her name, especially those inside the Citadel, Elder Lyons and Star Paladin Cross looked shocked upon hearing her voice, because apparently, the transmission was not only limited to the Enclave radio signal, it went also to the GNR signal.

"First of all, I apologize for breaking in, but we kinda have a little message, one for the Enclave" many eyes were focused on the radio, and then shifted to the now vanishing mushroom cloud on the horizon.

"By now many surely saw a massive mushroom cloud in the distance, many more might think it was another town attacked by the Enclave in the same fashion as Rivet City" the voice held contempt once it began to speak, anger for the Enclave many noticed.

"Well, fear not, that…was just a taste of their own medicine"

On the very lower levels of the once proud base of the Enclave, many soldiers held their breaths, not believing that someone had actually turned their own weapons against them, in such a short notice, Amata in particular was glaring at the speaker attached to a wall, fist clenched so hard that knuckles turned white and her palms began to bleed.

"They think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, kill anyone they want with impunity, like if they were the good guys, just because their line trace back to the old world"

On a set of caves, several Legion recruits stared at the radio with something akin to fear, they had seen the sky split open as six balls of fire rained, and this man was telling them all that he was responsible of it, even more, that the Enclave had it coming, the Centurion with them simply rose an eyebrow, this Caesar had to know.

"Plainly said, they are a mere ghost of a corrupted state that choked on itself back in those days, and grew petty and prideful of a force they don't have"

Reloading his Anti-Materiel rifle, a lone first recon soldier and his spotter glanced at each other, huddled on a small ravine, taking pop-shots at Deathclaws, and hiding after seeing a large concentration of Super Mutants of all sizes basically made it back to a heavily irradiated zone that not even the feared Deathclaws dared to enter.

"Worse yet, they attack with impunity our people, your people, your families, your children, doing them god knows what, brainwashing them to believe stupidities of an old era that brought Armageddon, and now doing the unthinkable, killing them, our future"

On a small classroom, on Vault 101, Mr. Brotch's hand trembled upon hearing the voice of Maverick, recognizing the voice of his star pupil, once believed lost, now hearing his voice, he glanced at his small students, and he could see Monica, Jimmy and Lily pale complexion, once friends of Maverick, now they feared the boogieman of Vault 101, and hearing his voice once again made them fear, and surely to remain awake for weeks to come.

"They attack us, branding us as mutants, they believed themselves to be pure, superior, they are not that, they will never be that, they are human, like us, flawed, like everything on this planet"

One lone purple eye narrowed at that, this Maverick was wrong, the humans might be flawed, but, they, they were superior, perfect, unique, equal, soon this human would learn, yet he could not pull himself out of this radio, he wanted to hear, to engrave each word of this maverick, of this unbranded, surely a story to tell in times to come.

"They even have the gall to send assassins, send cowards to do their job, because they don't have the balls to do so, Talon Mercs are pussies, I saw real mercenaries at work today, and whoever works with them, whoever employs them is a bigger pussy"

Mr. Burke simply glared at the radio, his eyes trying to burn a hole to whoever was on the other side, apparently with no success, Daniel Littlehorn would see it that this Maverick to die a very horrible death, if only both men knew that the men they would send would never return, and if they did return, they would do so really, really traumatized.

"Well, this ends today, my dad once told me, the only thing evil needs to triumph is to good men do nothing, well I'm done with it, I am a newcomer yes, my name is Maverick, I was born in the wasteland, like everyone of you, but I was raised in Vault 101"

Lucas Simms choked on his drink, Gob actually taking a spit take on Nova, as Moira and Billy stared at the radio with a incredulous look, Maggie and Harden actually looking at the radio on awe as they petted their dog, Dogmeat, who kept a lone eye open, aimed to the radio and the people who had saved it of a life of loneliness.

"Six months ago I left the vault, just to be taken away as a slave and experimented like a rat, returning here, seeing this…mess the Enclave and the people I knew, the people I grew with have made, just for a man, one John Henry Eden, the so called President of the Enclave"

Coronel Autumn gave his personal radio a weird look, never in his many years serving in the Enclave he imagined he would be living a 'Chosen One' scenario, another lone person, declaring an army superior in both numbers and weapons to be basically trash, and would kick their asses, Eden would not be pleased.

"This is just the beginning, they want war, well, they got it, the attack on Rivet City was the last straw, how many people died there? How many innocent died for selfish reasons? They even sacrificed their own men, they are not the future, they will just kill us all!"

On his office, darkened of course, John Henry Eden sat, his eyes focused on the lone radio on his desk, his finger interlaced, anyone who entered might think this was normal, however the glow on his irises said otherwise, he was angry, a single person, a mutant, even worse a vault dweller outcast was declaring war on the Enclave minutes after this attack on their own base, Eden would ensure that the son of James would suffer greatly after his capture.

"My name is Maverick, the vault dweller of Vault 101, a wastelander, I left the safety of the vault to search for my father, and I will find him…as soon as I deal with these murderous sociopaths, marks my words, you don't have enough men to rally against me"

Amata growled at this, a pool of blood forming on her feet, emanating from her palms.

"There is no gun in this world big enough to kill me"

Alphonse Almodovar gazed fearfully at the speakers on his office, not believing that the son of James was alive, and apparently ready to wage war, alone if needed.

"There is no one in this world that can stop me"

Sitting on a small cottage, beyond the once capital of the old nation, a dark skinned man stared at the radio, then at the flag pole resting near his bed, nightmares of the Divide coming to haunt him over and over, and so his duty to Caesar, he never imagined that this far of the so called Capital Wasteland he would hear a voice…so full of conviction, so sure of his ideals, of his goals, it was like the old world was talking to him, telling him to take a more direct approach, to not falter.

The Courier would sink her feet on the old world ash she created, and so to the maverick of vault 101, it was just a matter of time and of how.

"Bring it on you bastards, I got a lot of bones to pick with you, and so my friend, Sarah Lyons"

That was the straw that broke the camel for many, for Elder Lyons it was like a rush of life given to him, he immediately ordered a vertibird to be send to GNR, surely the location Sarah was to pick her up and the person with her, this Maverick fellow had declared himself an enemy of the Enclave, and apparently had the means to hit them as hard as possible, he would make a most excellent ally.

For President Eden, this was not tolerable, he immediately deployed every single trooper near the Washington monument, he had seen what Maverick could do, and he didn't care, he wanted GNR and Maverick burned.

To Daniel Littlehorn this was not tolerable, he was not going to have the balance he created to be torn asunder by a mere child, especially if Sarah Lyons was with him, assassins that same day received the order, Maverick and Sarah's head on a plate, 5000 caps, each.

For the wastelanders, this was welcomed, the legendary Sarah Lyons, believed dead, was in fact alive, that had been her voice all along, the female voice, and she somehow had recruited a lone vault dweller, a lone wanderer of so said vault to join her in the fight.

The day was not over by a long shot, but at least it had allowed many to get something many had forgotten.

Hope.

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><p><em><strong>And there it is, another chapter long and gone, I recieved a lot of feedback about me mixing the fallout 3 and New Vegas storylines, very positive ones, taht encourage me to keep going, and trust me on this, familiar faces on both ends will collide, and have a more intertwined story than the one of New Vegas and some vague references, I give you my word on that.<strong>_

_**Until a next time this is Hypn0s! AAAAUUUHHHH! enjoy the day my friends, and this story as well.**_


	9. 8: Sons and Daughters

_**Hello my readers it is Hypn0s, returning with yet another chapter from the Chornicles of Maverick!**_

_**now this chapter has some new goodies, including some characters and whatnot, now before anything, in this chapter i'm going to introduce a beast so twisted, so ugly, so demently strong and awesome, and complex, that i think Bethesa and Obsidian might have come with it, but due to it's complexity, and the fact that what we see on promotional art does not do justice to the in-game creature or object, the ranger's armor and longcoat, joshua Grahamn burn face being some examples.**_

_**also in this chapter i'm going to include a lot of esoteric things, after all we will be dealing with tribes, tribals are more connected with the spirits and all that, and will speak differtnly from the average wastelander. **_

_**so without any delay, i give you all chapter 8, enjoy.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 8: SONS AND DAUGHTERS<strong>

"I want the status of our communication arrays!" Sergeant Montgomery was not a man that could be easily angered, especially after training the Vault Dwellers, which in his honest opinion, were the greenest recruits he had ever encountered, but as he had done with some many others, he had turned green molerats into ferocious Yao Guai, there was no one so far that has reached the level of real danger and ferocity a Deathclaw possessed.

That was until he saw the video of what Maverick had done in the Capitol, and the dead of the Hellfire unit deployed to stop him, he wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was afraid, really afraid if this untrained individual were to harness all hat skill and train, really train, what if someone actually took him and turned that dull, yet deadly blade into a sharp and even more dangerous sword?

He dreaded that, and the attack to Raven Rock had been an example, a perfect maneuver of how to make your enemy look like an ass, and also inflict the fear of God onto the enemy's hearts.

He had seen several recruits, commandos and troopers basically shaking on their boots, gripping their weapons like if they were lifelines, the Hellfire battalion in special was eager, yet a bit edgy to engage Maverick again, and make him pay for what he had done, and as usual Sigma squad gave a damn about their opponents, looking at them as trash, after all Sigma squad was composed of the most battle hardened veterans the Enclave had, some of them were direct descendants of Poseidon Oilrig survivors, and had been part of operations against NCR patrols, Brotherhood knights and even killed a massive albino radscorpion of the size of a bus, Sigma squad was all every trooper wanted to be, and hope to have at their side if they ever encountered Maverick on the field.

The confrontation as inevitable, soon the President would deploy all forces, the son of James was outside, the only key to catch the project leader of Project Purity.

The other one was already dead when they found her corpse, and dead people tell no tales.

Looking around he spotted Amata, fully clad on her Tesla Power Armor, on one hand a Rocket Launcher, on the other a bandoleer full of plasma grenades, it was obvious what she wanted to do.

"I hope you're going to Deathclaw hunt, because if it isn't then I can't let you go Almodovar" the sergeant stated, making Amata growl, "You know better that we must wait presidential orders…"

"Fuck'em" Amata snarled, "Maverick is outside, he just taunted us after an attack, he attacked us and even dared to mock us, I will have his head on a pike" she snarled, moving away, only to stop when she heard a hammer being cocked.

Unlike most Enclave soldiers, Sergeant Montgomery favored the traditional and ever favorable 44. Magnum, with a scope of course, who doesn't want a hand cannon with a scope?

"The NEMEAN will not help you with a bullet lodged in your skull, so desist immediately soldier" Montgomery stated calmly, almost bored, Amata let out a curse on her breath, then returned to her quarters, all the way glaring at the sergeant and his little friend.

Once she was on her room, he lowered his gun and let out a sigh, Amata had been, honestly one of the few recruits that had taken his training like a fish to water, the commitment she had in those days to her training was unknown to him, she looked like someone who gave a damn about the people around here, simply using them as means to a goal, steps to an objective.

It wasn't until now he understood why Amata was so driven, the reason behind her actions and her way of being her, it was Maverick, something he had done had set her off, now the kid had a very angry girl on his tail, wanting to rip a new one to him, the question was of course would the kid actually defend himself and kill her?

After all this is the wasteland, the law of the gun rules it all, even in NCR territory, no matter how hard they try to make a civilized land, the law of the gun ruled supreme.

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><p>Sarah looked oddly satisfied, no really she did look like that.<p>

Dusk had to hand it over to Maverick, for being a vault dweller; he surely acted like a wastelander, and seemed to be interested in stopping the Enclave, for real.

Besides he had actually made their own orbital platform turn on them, and blasted their base to kingdom come, although she had to wonder what the hell were those two blue fireballs that came first?

Nevertheless he had delivered, somehow he had attacked their base, a feat the brotherhood had tried to achieve, it only earn them a lot of good dead men, at least they got some vertibirds out of that mess.

As Sarah, Maverick and Veronica exited Three-dog's studio, the place the lone maverick had decided to transmit his little message, she had to wonder what would be the repercussion of such act, and attack against the Enclave base would earn him some assassins and commandos hounding his ass, but attacking their base with their own weapons, and then taunting them, basically belittling the very same existence of the Enclave and declaring that nothing they had would stop him would surely make President Eden blow his top off.

Now that is a sight she would pay a thousand caps to see.

Then she realized that Sarah's gaze was on her, glaring at her, "Why you didn't tell us that Li was in the Citadel?" Sarah asked/snapped.

"Slipped my mind?" Dusk shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to tell her that the only reason she didn't told her about Li's whereabouts was because of Maverick.

In an instant Dusk flinched when a fist brushed on her left cheek, and opened a hole on the wall behind her, looking around she saw Maverick, holding the boomstick, with both eyebrows raised so high that they were about to fly out of his face, and so was Veronica, even with the hood on.

Looking at the source of the fist, she found herself staring at Sarah's angry gaze, "I expected more of you knight Dusk" Sarah hissed, pulling her fist out of the hole she made on the wall, now aware of how great the enhancements Sally made to the ATHENA truly were, true it wasn't Maverick strength, but it gets the job done.

Dusk just huffed, her nostrils expanding as she angrily stared at Sarah, then at Maverick, the wanderer basically understood that she was angry at him and he moved out of the way, heading to the exit to the plaza, "I'll wait you outside Sarah, come Veronica" Maverick said, motioning his companion to follow him, the scribe did it without even saying a word, not wanting to get in the shouting that would ensure.

Once Maverick and Veronica were away, Sarah attacked first, instantly shoving Dusk away, angrily staring at her, "The hell is your problem soldier?" Sarah asked angrily.

"My problem?" Dusk asked with indignation, "My problem is that so far I haven't see the same Sarah Lyons that led Lyons Pride a month ago, I just see an girl on a tin-can acting like a lovesick girl and protecting that vault bastard!" Dusk angrily retorted.

"Don't snap at me bitch, I put you on your place once, I'll do it again" Sarah snapped, reminding Dusk why Sarah was sentinel and leader of the pride, it wasn't because she was the daughter of the elder and leader of this chapter, no, it was because she trained hard, she became the best, and when a jealous Dusk had told Sarah that she was just a spoiled girl and the only reason she was sentinel was for her father's position.

That day Dusk had to be admitted to the infirmary with three broken ribs and her eyes swollen shut, Sarah hadn't taken that attitude kindly, and had put the hot firebrand in place.

Now here they were, once again Dusk and Sarah, ready to duke it out with each other, but this time however both knew that while the circumstances were different, the reason was the same, trust.

"You don't know what happened there Dusk, that was hell itself, I had to fight alongside a vault dweller, and I didn't like it at first, but he prove to be a valuable ally, more to that he is a friend, true I didn't want it at first, but he showed me that not every dweller is a sniveling bastard that crawled out of the ground…besides he told me something that I know other dwellers wouldn't do" Sarah said, "Really? And what he said that could impress you so much?" Dusk snarled.

"Simple, what vault dweller would leave the safety of the vault just to go for his father, and demand answers? More better, what son would leave the only place he knew as home, his friends, his land, just for his father" Sarah asked to Dusk, the sniper just blinked several times, and tried to answer, but nothing came out.

"Right, no dweller would do it, even more no son on this world would do so, survival of the fittest some say, I say otherwise, he is different, special…and as humans we fear the different" Sarah stated defiantly, "If you don't like him well I don't blame you, we lost too much to his people, but I let my anger get the best of me and I nearly lost my only chance of escaping…my only chance to get redemption" Sarah stated.

"Now you better shape up Dusk, or I swear I will reject you as my sister" Sarah's ultimatum had the desired effect to Dusk and the members of the brotherhood with her, to reject a brother or a sister was to reject the chains that bind, to reject that which held the brotherhood, it basically meant that to the eyes of that person, his rejected brother or sister was nothing less than cannon fodder, or less than cannon fodder.

To Dawn Dusk, who had lost it all to the wasteland, only to find it all again in the brotherhood of steel was something worse than death…and all because of a vault dweller.

"…Is he worthy enough to you reject me as your sister?" Dusk asked, "Yes, he would take a bullet for anyone on this room, even if he doesn't know them…I know he would have taken a bullet for Jason Dan" Sarah said, it was the first time Dusk heard the complete name of the deceased fiancée of Sarah.

"Dusk…for all that is worth…please don't let your hate cloud your sight…anger is a bad counselor" Sarah spoke softly slowly turning away of Dusk.

Both girls turned fast of course when Maverick busted inside, "Sarah, Dusk, get in here now, we got company" he said, immediately both women made their way outside, Dusk taking a note to do what Sarah suggested.

Once outside both brotherhood soldiers looked at the sky, just like Maverick, "There" he pointed at the horizon, two grey things moving in the air, "Vertibirds" Sarah said, turning to Maverick, "Looks like the Enclave didn't like your little speech…blast'em of my sky" Sarah commanded.

"With pleasure" Maverick hissed as he hefted The Boomstick upwards, Dusk gave the two approaching vertibirds a longer look, then got eye wide, "Wait!" she screamed, thrusting her hand and pushing Maverick's boomstick out of the line of fire.

"Dusk what the hell!" Sarah demanded angrily, "Those are not Enclave" Dusk said a visible smile, "Those are ours" she said, making Sarah blink, "We have vertibirds?" Sarah asked, "Yeah we do, we attacked Raven's Rock some days after you vanished, we got slaughtered and slaughtered people in return, we lost too good men and women, but we got some vertibirds out of the deal" she said.

"A pyrrhic victory" Maverick said, earning himself a look of Dusk, "You know, a hollow victory where both sides win but with heavy losses on both sides"

"I know what a pyrrhic victory is, I'm not stupid" Dusk hissed, seeing how the vertibirds began to go fly around the plaza, looking for a spot to land, and once they found it, began to descend.

Once they touched ground, the back doors of the vertibird opened, exposing the insides of the bird, and its crew, several knights armed to the teeth, and a face Sarah thought would only see in the Citadel at the side of her father.

"Star Paladin!" Sarah cried, advancing to the dark skinned woman with a short buzz haircut, looking really serious and like owning the field, once the woman laid eyes on Maverick her eyes widened.

"Cross? What the hell" Dusk wondered, seeing the great deployment of forces in the plaza, "She seems like…an important person" Maverick said, "She is dweller, Star Paladin Cross, she outranks Sarah by a longshot, you could say she is the second in command of the field forces, and the third person with the highest rank on this brotherhood chapter"

The way Dusk spoke of Cross made Maverick believe this woman was some sort of super-soldier, or someone who didn't let her rank get on her head, like many people, so he was surprised when the woman made a beeline to him, not Sarah, and eyed him head to toe.

Then she spoke, and what she told him surprised him, "It is good to see you again, son of James" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, the fact that she knew his father was diminished by the fact that she knew him, and yet he didn't knew her.

"Uh…do I know you?" Maverick asked, the woman slightly smiled, a condescending smile, the smile his father always flashed at him every time he tried to figure girls out, or medicine, the kind of smile of an experienced person, your superior in that area if you want to get technical.

It was also the smile for 'I know something you don't know' and he hated it.

"We will have time to talk later, now we must leave" she said, moving to Sarah, "We spotted at least 50 urban commandos approaching GNR, we must evacuate now" Cross stated simply, her statement had a desired effect on Sarah, she soured up and simply reached for her Tommy laser Gun, "Let them come, I have enough EC packs for every single one of them" Sarah said.

"This is no time for bravado, we must evacuate, initiate Lars, get Three-dog and his wife out…"

"No, we must stay and fight, the Enclave will think this is a show of weakness after what we did" Sarah said, Cross was about to say something when Maverick stepped in, "I'm with Sarah on this one, they started this war yes, but we will end it, but first what the hell is an urban commando?" Maverick asked.

"Simply told, guerrilla forces, they use the ruins of the city as ambushes points, lay mines, use terror tactics around any patrol near DC, all of them have Multiplas plasma rifles, plasma mines and grenades, plasma, plasma, plasma, we nicknamed them 'the gooies'" Sarah said.

"Do I want to even know why?"

"No" Sarah and Cross said at the same time, then Cross sighed, "Look Sarah, we can't stay here, there are simply too many" Cross began, "But they wear normal combat armors" Maverick perked up at that, "And besides all that armament, they are just soldiers" Sarah continued.

"Superstitious soldiers" Maverick said, a small smirk forming on his face, one that Sarah mimicked once she imagined what he was planning, after all he had the biggest gun ever fabricated for human use (or at least genetically and cybernetic enhanced super-human use) and an armor that had the most advanced stealth technology ever, alien tampered stealth technology with alien alloys as plates for the armor, wore by a damn juggernaut that barely made it her height.

"Cross, place two knights here as guard, Dusk, Veronica, were going with Star Paladin Cross to the Citadel, Maverick, give them hell for me will ya" she said, everyone immediately blinked, did Sarah entrusted the defense of GNR to a vault dweller? While they are a formidable force, a single dweller does little difference against such numbers Cross described.

"Okay Sarah, see you on the Pentagon"

"Is the Citadel now!"

"Who gives a damn about the name, is still in the same place, I can use my pip-boy old map to find it, just tell the guys outside not to shoot me unless they want to see in how many pieces I can break their arms" Maverick said, walking away, before anyone could stop him he suddenly flickered out of sight, becoming less than a shade and wind on the area.

"That's some hi-tech stealth technology" one of the knights muttered, then turning to face Cross for orders.

The Star Paladin by her part stared at Sarah, the woman seemed to held Maverick in high regard, just like she had held his father before, and still does, if she could she would look on the wasteland for the man, to help him, men like him were rare, and needed to be protected, and aided in their quests to change the world for the better.

"Morales, Gonzales, stay in GNR, kill anything that dares to attack it, Dusk, Lyons" Cross began, her eyes landing on Veronica, "Santangelo, Veronica Santangelo, Ma'am" Veronica said, a small smile on her lips.

"Santangelo, you three are with me, we are returning to the Citadel, let's hope Maverick knows what he is doing" Sarah simply smiled, a small confirmatory smile.

"Oh, is the commandos you should be worried about Star Paladin" Sarah said with a smile as she looked at the darkening sky, the sun's descend making the once dark clouds to become orange somewhat.

It never failed to amaze her.

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><p>A jump here, ducking a lot, jogging rather than outright running like a maniac and a lot of checking around became part of Maverick as he trekked the remains of the once great capital city, now little than ruins and ashes remained of the proud Washington DC.<p>

He found odd that he hasn't found mutants, let alone ghouls, or any kind of mutated fauna that might have found the ruins of the city as their home, after all it was far safer than being out on the open in the wasteland, lots of hiding spots, ambush spots, places to lay low, this area was perfect for predators that rely more on surprise rather than brute strength.

With a grunt he gave a mighty jump, easily covering a floor and landing on the remains of what used to be the third floor of a building that was tipped to the left, allowing him the easy jump to the third level, he found himself smiling that so far, while the buildings were completely and utterly trash and scrap, they had so far held their own on his weight combined with the weight of the Boomstick and his sudden landing, it surely shows how sturdy and well made the building were back in the day, after all he could see at plain sight that the city had been the target of some major nuclear strikes.

Walking to a nearby window, Maverick kneeled, placing the barrel of The Boomstick on the frame, and then waited, maybe he is not an experimented scout that has spend all his life on the wasteland and somehow got attuned with the area around him, and therefore knew where danger would come, how to track, and how to survive in the seemingly sterile wasteland.

But he had a radar, how the hell the guys of Vault-Tec were able to put a damn radar on a pip-boy then able to hay-wired it to the HUD, yet again he wondered how they were able to do everything he was used to for the past nineteen years, a HUD system with its own radar, Geiger counter, health meter (that still eluded him) human body condition, weapon condition and ammo count, not to mention the fascinating VATS, whoever had designed all this was a genius, that or someone with no social life whatsoever and a lot of time on his hands.

His mental musings were cut short when his radar caught up several signals, and his ears caught a sound that no one for the past 200 years had heard.

The sound of a bus engine.

Looking outside the cover of the window, Maverick eyes widened when he saw a rare sight, the truth about the post-apocalyptic world was that all of the old world was reusable, broken homes could be repaired, towns could be made, but the truth was that everything of the old world was reusable, cars, houses, buildings, what people called scavenging, sometimes a scavenger would find something valuable, something worth fighting for, something worth dying for, let it be food, weapons, shelter, the old world was dead, and nothing would bring it back, its ideals however still lived.

So it was a surprise to Maverick, after seeing so many damaged beyond repair vehicles that worked more as improvised shelters for small cars and permanent homes such as buses, to see a bus, an actual bus, moving inside the rounds, its fusion engine letting a small hum and the rocks around scrapping the metal around the bus.

The bus by its part didn't looked like an ordinary bus, in fact it looked a post-apocalyptic version, the front was outfitted with what seemed a reinforced bumper that covered the front and looked like a train bumper, surely to inflict horrible wounds to whatever stupid enough trying to attack it up front, the front windows were covered in metal sheets, with a pair of rectangular gaps to allow some vision, after all there was no company that could produce bullet-proof glass, and the only one that did it on Washington was turned into dust during the war.

Also the side windows and the sides of the bus were reinforced with metal sheets, most of them seems scrapped out of damaged cars, hell even the tires were armored, well the sides of course, on top of the bus was one man, poking out like a mole, and a freaking minigun placed on that area, on his hands, acting as a guard.

Maverick also saw a whole plethora of men and women marching alongside the bus, surely the commandos Sarah and Cross spoke of, all of them clad in black armors, just like Elliot, Maria and Johnson had, but some of them had some sort of painting on the plates, like a claw painted in white on it.

All of them were carrying plasma rifles, but these seemed to have extra barrels, somehow tucked neatly in a rectangular manner to allow multiple fire, accuracy must be a murder with it.

"Multiplas" Maverick murmured, seeing how one of the commandos with the painted claw approached some of them, "We got orders of Mr. Littlehorn, hit orders on this Maverick and Sarah Lyons, he wants his heads on plates for a change" the man stated, making Maverick narrow his eyes, the guy was going to die first, and he would remember the name Littlehorn for future reference.

Holding The Boomstick hard, Maverick took aim, he counted roughly 35 commandos escorting the bus, the rest surely was inside, not counting driver, so the bus was his first target.

"The kid that basically badmouthed Eden and Mr. Littlehorn?" one of the guys asked, "That guy must really have a pair to do that" Maverick smirked, they had no idea he could hear them.

Before Maverick pulled the trigger, something made the bus shake, that drew a glance of Maverick, even more when he heard muffle roars and groans inside and saw the commandos jump away in sheer fright.

"Fuck! Those Enclave eggheads are messed up!" one of the commandos snarled, pointing his Multiplas at the bus, Maverick found that odd, "Hey, I work there…but yeah, they are a little touched of the head, I mean what they were thinking with splicing Ant and Deat…"

The bus shook once more, and this time it caused it to stop, even more as the thing began to shake left and right with force, Maverick drew a worried glance at it, really wondering what they had inside the bus.

"I told Stalingrad that this was a bad idea!" one of the commandos, surely the leader of the group cried, holding the Multiplas closer to his chest, and so every single commando around the bus.

Then the shacking stopped suddenly, the gunner on top of the bus seemed the most scared of them all, after all half of his body was inside with whatever that was inside.

"O'Connor, what the hell is happening there?" one of the commandos asked to the gunner, O'Connor apparently was his name, "I don't know switchblade, the fucking thing just started-" that was as far the gunner could go before a horrible sound of metal being bended and tore apart was heard, and then he screamed.

The gunner was suddenly pulled down, and tried to held of the mounted minigun as a lifeline, pained screams mixed with terror left his mouth as blood began to gush out of the roof like a fountain, then his screams became gurgles as he was fully pulled down, more blood coming out, alongside a severed arm that landed near one of the commandos.

"Oh shit" was all the man said as they heard a female scream inside the bus, the bus shook even more, gunshots were heard, then suddenly the front metal sheet was torn open, and a barely alive woman emerged out of it, half of her face was missing, and both her arms were gone.

"H-help" was all she muttered before she let one last gurgle of a scream as fire emerged from behind her, enveloping her and causing her to come out of the bus completely, now everyone could see that she was lacking her legs up to her knees down as well, one of the commandos could not tolerate seeing her like this, and pulled his Multiplas, shooting her in the head and ending her suffering.

"Holy shit that thing is going to get loose" one of the commandos said, seeing how the bus shook and trashed with some unholy power behind it, Maverick didn't knew what was inside, but he knew that he had to kill it before it got…

Then the right side of the bus was torn apart by something, because of the bus Maverick had obstructed view, but he knew it was big, and was killing everything from the other side, as the shots and blood could attest to.

He didn't liked this, neither what he was going to do, but these guys were Enclave, and working with them, he had no idea how many people they had killed, and truth to be told he didn't want to know, so he took aim to the part where the bus fusion engine was, and fired.

The result was expected considering that the bus was running on fusion energy, near identical to nuclear energy, but safer, in a way, but the problem, just like nuclear energy was when there was a rupture in the containment device, in this case the engine, all hell breaks loose because there is no way to contain the chaotic reaction that causes the energy generation.

Usually this causes a very large explosion, which was what happened.

The bus was lifted into the air with the force of the semi-nuclear explosion, it could be argued that a fusion powered vehicle blowing up was as setting five mini-nukes off, a rather nasty and messy thing to do and see, as Maverick could attest to as several of the commandos went flying away by the force of the explosion, either in one piece or in many pieces, all of them without a doubt set in flames, including whatever had come out of the bus that by now had flew at least five stories, then landed roughly on the ground with a thunderous thud, all while a mini mushroom could rose and dissipated as soon as it came.

"Stealth mode off" Maverick said, immediately becoming visible to the naked eye, looking at the destruction he brought with The Boomstick with some sadness, most of the commandos he saw were not older than him, perhaps two or three years older, but unlike him they didn't had a 'normal' life and moral upright like he did back in the vault thanks to his father and Jonas, to do what was right instead of what was easy was hard, but it had to be done, and it seemed only a selected few outside the vaults would ever grew up with the fortune of having a father or a mother and teach them what was right and wrong.

Then yet again, the wasteland tends to twist the moral of people in ways no one can ever hope to see or expect.

With a sigh he picked the boomstick and jumped to the ground, landing with a hard and dry 'thump', raising dust as he did so, and began advancing, staring at the carnage he committed, but that he didn't began.

With a sigh he brought his pip-boy up, and looked for The Pentagon, finding its location and immediately his HUD marking the location he had to take to reach it, Maverick began to walk away, not sparing a glance to whatever had come out of the buss and surely he had killed.

Had he actually looked back he would have seen the arm of the thing that had came out of the bus, a strange mix of a Deathclaw arm with ant like exoskeleton plates and claws that looked more like very sharp pincers, pale white pincers, pincers that twitched, still attached to the thing he had supposedly killed, buried under ruble and the bus.

* * *

><p>Sarah imagined herself sometimes, when near a bus or a car, to be driving it, or better, being a passenger, it was something that started when she saw them the first time near what use to be the Pentagon's underground parking lot, now a small town of refugees of several communities.<p>

She wondered what it would feel to be actually driving them, using them, feeling the breeze on her face, moving around without a care, and basically becoming the first hit-and-run maniac on the post-apocalyptic world, she would admit that the idea of ramming a car at 100km/h against an Enclave trooper, Power Armor or not was a very entertaining thing that made her smile, then the trooper changed and became Amata, and the idea became more like a private joke and a way to tone out boring conversations.

Now she found surreal being aboard a Vertibird, an Enclave Vertibird, true she traveled on a flying saucer and a space-station tram, seeing the universe in its vastness, but being aboard an enemy ship, one that had brought so many grief to them was something even more crazy.

"So" Cross began, "Where did you met Maverick? Last I saw him and his father, they had entered Vault 101" Cross conversed, Sarah by her part couldn't even imagine how Cross had met James and Maverick to begin with.

"First of all how you know Maverick, of his father to begin with" Dusk asked, really wondering how the Star Paladin met the guys to begin with, the Paladin by her part just sighed, then looked at Sarah and Dusk.

"A long time ago, nineteen years to be exact, a wasteland scientist and a vault dweller of another land came to us with an idea, free, pure water, for everyone, that's how Project Purity began, with a dream, then the dream became an idea, the idea became a reality, and slowly it began to yield results, small, yet it showed that it could be done" Cross began.

"But as they told us, it is too hard to create a miracle with just spare parts, Project Purity was missing an important component, such component, according to James, would allow massive purification of metrical tons of water in the matter of seconds, imagine a whole irradiated river, no matter how irradiated and muck filled, in an hour or less, Project Purity would have turn that dark, poisonous water into pure, potable water, a true miracle to the wasteland" Cross said, the small, fond smile that once decorated her face began to die out slowly.

"Then things began to get complicated, the final component was near impossible to find, also the Super Mutants began their attacks, at first it was isolated assaults, but then they began all out sieges, we stopped them of course, they might be stronger than the average human, but they are not bulletproof… (Sigh) then Catherine died, and all fell apart" Cross said with closed eyes.

"Catherine?" Sarah asked, "Yes, James's wife and Maverick's mother, she died at childbirth, you can't even being to comprehend the pain James felt, a widow and father at the same time, all in the span of minutes, without his muse, he simply…gave up, not enough to give up on his son, but enough to give up on Project Purity" Cross said, looking at the cockpit of the vertibird, seeing the Citadel outline just kilometers away.

"The rest, as people say is history, I escorted James and his son to Megaton, there we remained the night, as a sandstorm died out, we met both the good and the bad of the Capital Wasteland, the Sherriff of that time, one Sonora Cruz and her deputy, Lucas Simms, they kept law on Megaton, we met the religious part of Megaton as well, Confessor Cromwell of course baptized Maverick, despite James's protest, with irradiated water, yet at his age, Maverick didn't show any kind of skin irritation like the rest if kids baptized with irradiated water" there Cross chuckled at that, "I remember Cromwell saying that Atom was not giving his blessing to the youthful one, in that moment I knew…that kid would be special" Sarah slightly smiled, Cross didn't even knew how true that was.

"We're landing people, strap on" the pilot shouted over his shoulder, immediately, Sarah, Cross, Dusk and Veronica did so, Veronica with a lot of anxiety, "I say it once, and is say it again, I hate flying!" she screamed as she held on dear life.

"Oh come on Veronica, it can't be that bad?" Sarah said with a smirk, "Oh sure laugh it up you bitch!"

The way Sarah laughed made Cross slightly smile, it had been so long since someone had a reason to laugh in these times, mostly they were bitter chuckles, even the birth of new babies had been bitter affairs, how could it be happy when the father was dead and the mother didn't had any scrap of life in them to look after their newborns?

Soon the vertibird shook slightly, indicating that they had indeed landed on the Citadel courtyard, with a grin Sarah was the first to stand up and exit the vertibird, followed by Dusk, then by Cross and a very spooked Veronica, apparently flying with gravity makes her greatly twitchy.

The moment Sarah exited the vertibird was the moment that she remembered many things, they day Dan proposed, the day the Pride was formed, the day she became a sentinel, the day she fired her very first weapon, the day she got fired (by accident) the Citadel courtyard held many memories, fond memories for Sarah.

So it was comprehensible for Cross and Dusk to see Sarah in a state of shock upon seeing the courtyard littered with wastelanders and makeshift homes, alongside many brotherhood soldiers, not to mention medic tents and some wastelanders helping in loading some weapons into crates.

"This is new" Sarah commented, "We ran out of space in the underground parking lot, we had too many refugees to hold in the lot, most of them are tribals that were newly settling in and got pushed by Enclave advance" Cross said, "There is more, the badlands are home of various tribes and perhaps the most dangerous creatures the American Wasteland has ever seen, but is not enough to push whole tribes to this point" Sarah stated.

"Of course, those who speak English speak of men, armies of men, armor as red as the blood they spill, attacking them without any sort of reason, slaughtering their men, enslaving their children, whoring their women, men who utter a name in reverence" Cross said, "Caesar"

Sarah furrowed her brow, glancing at Veronica for one second, then turning her gaze at Cross, "Maverick was right after all" Sarah muttered, "Excuse me?" Dusk asked.

"Maverick is quite a pre-war dictionary…that's the name right?" Sarah nodded at Veronica's question, "Apparently in the vault he had classes, everyday, math's, history, languages, science, name it they had it, most of it was of the pre-war era, Maverick apparently made an essay about the Roman Empire, long ago, even before firearms were an idea, the empire was led by a man, someone everyone look up for, a Caesar" Sarah said, Cross immediately took a deep breath.

"You encounter these men in the place you were held" Cross stated, more like an answer to an unmade question, "Yeah, we were eight in that moment, me, Maverick, Veronica, Somah, a little girl named Sally and three soldiers we found pinned down by turrets" Sarah began, walking away of the vertibird and heading to the labs, as in autopilot, Dusk, Cross and Veronica followed close.

"I volunteer to find some clothes and food with Veronica and Somah, the place was huge and had all kind of pre-war and post-war tech and armors, Maverick had found an armor used on the Anchorage campaign, but got damaged, so I decided to help him with some wasteland like clothes, all while he and Sally tampered with two Gauss Rifles"

"And so the Twin Boom was born" Veronica piped up, "The what?" Dusk wondered.

"A jury-rigged double cannon Gauss rifle with more kick than a Super Mutant punch, Maverick is smart I'll give him that, he modified his sidearm, That Gun to actually shot magnetic propelled rounds, basically a gauss handgun" Dusk actually looked at Sarah in disbelieve, in the Capital Wasteland no one had seen a Gauss Handgun, most of them were either on the other side of the country, or too damaged to be worth repairing, "But Sally…Sally is the smartest, she helped with the Twin Boom and the Boomstick, Maverick current weapon, anyway" Sarah continued, regaling Dusk and Cross the tale of how the group had first contact with the Legion, and how they got disposed, not to mention the fact those Legion soldiers were looking for Maverick in particular, thanks to Amata.

"Almodovar seems obsess with Maverick and his demise" Cross said, "No shit Star Paladin, Maverick told me she blames him for the death of her boyfriend, a man Maverick presented to Amata herself, but he told me that he wasn't even near the place her boyfriend was found death" Sarah added, opening the entrance to the lab room.

"Understandable, Maverick was the only one out during the lockdown, he killed two guards and severely crippled one and the Overseer" Cross began, "Son of a bitch did things we want to do" Dusk muttered with a sneer.

"So Amata pinned the blame on him, and his father, after all this might not have happened if neither had left" Cross added, "Are you sure? If that's the case then this war should be blamed to them" Sarah snapped, making Cross rethink her words from before.

"I didn't meant it like that" Cross stated, reaching the stairs and going down with the group, "I said that project Purity had always been abandoned, only inhabited by Super Mutants, whenever James wanted it or not, his presence triggered a chain of reactions that ended in this precise moment" Cross stated.

"Is not his fault" Sarah stated, "And you would do good in not saying that in front of Maverick when he returns, friend of his father or not, he will not take your words well"

"Truth is a harsh thing" Cross said sagely, "I didn't meant it like that, I mean that he will tear you apart like a Deathclaw tearing a molerat" Sarah warned, finally reaching the labs properly, there she let out a long sigh at the familiar setting, the same gigantic useless robot, the same scribes scurrying like little mouses looking for food, the same knights standing guard, all was the same, it was like time had ignored this part of the world altogether.

"I'm home"

* * *

><p><strong>BOOM!<strong>

**BOOM! **

**BOOM!**

The subway systems, once the pride and joy of the Dc urban area, stations scattered all over the city and even far more, allowed before, fast mobilization of the masses of workers and citizens that lived before, the carts used to transports between twenty to fifty people, each, and in a day over a million people would mobilize from one place to the other, in a slow day.

When the Great War reached its apex, the underground metro was found to be another bastardized fallout shelter, and while it protected the people in it of the massive shockwaves and heat waves that killed many in the first two hours, it was unable to shield people of the massive radiation unleashed by the bombs, not to mention that the metro lines were not built to withstand such shockwaves, it was not strange that entire lines were cut off one from the other, and people inside the carts were buried alive, the unlucky ones, the lucky ones were crushed and killed instantly.

The survivors either emerged to a raped world, or stayed underground, those who emerged outside became the first survivors, and the first to feel firsthand the harshness of their once forgiving world, and the weight of their actions, there were no more politicians, police, soldiers, medics, everyone was equal, and as screwed as the next one.

Those who remained underground formed small settlements, scavenged all what they could of what didn't fell down, and remained underground, in time their eyes adapted to the low light, and they became 'the tunnelers' and underground society that could trace its roots back to the Great War, perhaps the only underground tribe ever know in the world, of course they weren't strangers to the dangers of the outside world, most of them became ghoulified by the lingering radiation, and those left once they began to feel their sanity slipping by, choosing exile and becoming another danger in the wasteland rather than become a danger to the tribe, that was during the first 100 years of their lives, then they found a truck full of Rad-X and Rad-away, and allowed them to prevent the ghoulification process, at least for their children.

The Brotherhood had met with them by mere chance, when a woman, on its rite of passage stumbled with a pair of knights exploring the metro lines, the woman, who like the rest knew English, was able to communicate with the knights well enough to them to understand her, and not confuse her and a feral ghoul, after all it was dark, and any humanoid shape could be confused by a ghoul in its feral stage.

Regardless, the tunnelers and the brotherhood began a beneficial alliance twenty years before the war against the Enclave, food and fusion batteries for whatever they could find on the tunnels, weapons, ammo, scraps of metal and electronics, the brotherhood led by Elder Lyons was needed of the raw materials to upgrade many of the outdated defenses of the Pentagon and repair their weapons and armors, the tunnelers, hungry and needy for energy exchanged this, the tribe had chosen to use sharpen pieces of metal and whatever blunt object to defend themselves, alongside traps that might not stop a Power Armored individual, is enough to even cripple, if not outright kill an Overlord, they didn't knew if it could stop a Deathclaw, after all the beasts never ventured into the concrete jungle, rather choosing open spaces where their speed and size was exploited to the full rather than becoming targets on cramped spaces.

The tribe was no stranger to the Enclave, to the commandos, or the hordes of feral ghouls pushed away by the Enclave bombs, or underground raiders, which were their natural enemies.

"The fuck was that?"

And apparently, the raiders had finally won.

The tunnelers had been prepared for raiders, most raiders were armed with normal ordinance, handguns, some hand-made grenades and any kind of melee weapon such a police batons, which were abundant in the Capital Wasteland, knifes, sledgehammers and knuckle dusters, it was odd to see a whole raider party, armed with military ordinance, mostly because most of the spots to get such weapons were heavily guarded, and getting killed for guns was not worth the risk.

Yet they were not prepared to such coordinated assault that relied on both luck and preparation.

The raiders had somehow found military grade weapons, assault rifles, grenades instead of Molotov cocktails, and numbers, it seemed they were either tired of the resistance of the tunnelers, or got paid by someone, it could be second, as several women and children wore slave collars, and the few men that survived the attack were on make-shift jails that were in fact shopping carts welded together to hold a full grown up person and with barbwire around it.

The reason the raiders, which once numbered to fifty, but got reduced to a dozen, thanks to the traps and the defenders melee weapons coated with radscorpions venom, were already on the edge after this costly victory, their leader had already took three of the capture girls to one of the carts and had his way with them, killing one in the process, to unwind after such loses, not to mention that the tunnelers had been living around a feral ghoul infested zone, and most of the traps were made to deal with the ghouls.

The sounds of the screaming woman on one of the carts and several children crying were suddenly silenced by the very loud shots that echoed on the metro tunnels, along with the sounds of dying ferals.

"Timberjack, check that out" one of the raiders, the third in command (the second in command had her head crushed under an engine during the raid) commanded, the male raider just gave a rude grunt, and the finger as he moved to one of the tunnel entrances.

The gunshots continued, and Timberjack returned five minutes later, looking pale as a sheet of paper, and considering that raiders have tanned skins and never took any kind of showers.

"So'ething…there is a guy…big gun…ghouls…bam!" Timberjack said, the other raiders didn't knew what to say, Timberjack had a long history of abusing chems, more than usual for raiders anyway, he could be hallucinating, yet again the shooting wasn't stopping at all, and neither the screams of dying ghouls.

"Co'e on I'll show you" Timberjack said, turning around, that was the last thing he did in his life.

The moment he turned, a massive spike emerged out of his back, a pale white curved spike, lifting him up, even in the darkness of the metro lines, they could see what had killed Timberjack.

"The fuck is that?"

"Timberjack!"

"Fucking shoot it!"

And so they shot it, and sealed their fates.

* * *

><p>One ghoul, two ghouls, three ghouls! It didn't matter how many of them he shot, they just kept coming!<p>

The good thing was that they came on mobs, so using the overwhelming penetration capacity of the boomstick allowed him to dispatch more than two or three ferals with a shot, after all they were emaciated corpses, there was little that could stop a magnetic propelled projectile fueled with alien energy, let alone several corpses.

But damn where they persistent.

So as they kept coming he kept shooting them, he was not going to relent at all, they were all going down, no matter how-

**CLICK!**

The dreaded sound that made hardened soldiers to sweat ice and skin turn yellow in the heat of battle reached Maverick ears, he, somehow had spend the whole magazine of the boomstick against the ghouls.

Grunting in anger he hefted the boomstick to a more comfortable position, one at least to swing around, then he began to swing, there was a reason he and Sally added the blades to the boomstick, the barrel was not only reinforced to withstand the massive recoil, just like the rest of the body, but it was also reinforced to withstand Maverick swinging the weapon and using the blades to cut anything on his path.

They never found a chainsaw to add in the first place.

The remaining ghouls, some twenty or some stood little to no chance against Maverick as he swung the boomstick and cut them apart like nothing.

As the last ghoul was cut down, Maverick reflected on his decision of using the metro lines again to move, he could have easily run and jumped instead of using the damaged metro tunnels, but he decided to cut time, and now he was paying for it, not that the ghouls could actually hurt him, they were more like annoyances.

"Sarah never mentioned there were so many ferals in the metro tunnels" he mused to himself, then suddenly perked up when he heard shots echoing in the distance, alongside with screams, furrowing his brow he made his way towards the sounds of gunshots, the screams became louder and so the sound of…something, the growling was familiar.

Escalating some stairs and turning some corners he began to see blood, lots of blood smeared around, the shouting was as intense as ever, now he could heard women and children screams and sobs, that made him go even faster, then he arrived, and froze upon seeing what had caused the blood around.

The floor was littered with blood and body parts, human body parts, alongside guns and empty casings, he spotted the mauled remains of raiders, their clothes, no matter how torn and their skin, matted with blood and grime was a quick giveaway, especially after he saw the only non-mutilated raider corpse, with a hole on his chest, he also spotted some women with nasty gashes on their chests, fear etched on their faces, slaves by the metallic collar on their necks.

Maverick eyes finally locked with the reason of this massacre, standing with one massive paw pinning a still living raider stood a Deathclaw, but nothing he had seen before, the body for instance was covered in some sort of white exoskeleton that left gaps for movement, and exposed soft, pale flesh, the claws were in fact a hybrid between Deathclaw claw like hand and scorpion pincers, each long like nail claw was in fact a thick pincer with small hair around it, as long as a Deathclaw claw and nails, two parts of the creature stood up the most, beside the exoskeleton covered body, one was that the Deathclaw like creature had, instead of a short tail that allowed some sort of balance and steering for the fast creature, was replaced by nothing else that a scorpion tail, a massive sting that oozed a colorless fluid on the tip of the tail, the head was the most scary thing Maverick had ever seen, while it looked like a Deathclaw head, horns included, it lacked the massive maw of the Deathclaw, instead replace by what seemed a hybrid of ant's pincer like mouth with rows of sharp teeth inside it, and the eyes, the eyes as in four eyes were in fact two massive ant like eyes with two smaller scorpion eyes.

The creature stared at Maverick, and Maverick stared back at the…chimera, then the thing roared, opening its mouth and exposing even more teeth inside, and forcing its weight on its legs, instead of one, the raider under its leg was crushed messily, and it charged as fast as a normal Deathclaw.

Maverick lost no time and swung the boomstick at the chimera, meeting the face of the beast, his surprise came when the beast staggered a little, and only a minor abrasion was visible on the pincer like mouth of the beast.

"Oh shit" he muttered, putting some distance between him and the chimera, then pulling That Gun and firing it at the chimera, the shots, instead of piercing the exoskeleton actually bounced off, albeit leaving visible dents and cracks on it, the chimera roared, either in pain or annoyance he couldn't tell, and when it got close enough it swung one of its arms at him, backed to a wall Maverick did the only thing he could think off, he ducked fast, feeling how dust and debris were lifted by the claw upon meeting concrete, with a roar then he brought hr boomstick and swung it at the legs of the beast with all he got, making the beast lose balance and meet the ground, now on the ground Maverick took advantage, and kicked the chimera like a ball, sending it flying towards one of the makeshift homes around, causing it to collapse.

Seeing that since he didn't have ammo for the boomstick (Veronica had it on her backpack) he tossed the gun to the ground then reloaded That Gun and aimed it at the chimera rising form.

The beast itself wasn't finished, standing up it let out a deafening roar and then breathed fire at Maverick, with a yelp Maverick jumped away, only part of his pants and his boots catching fire, surprised by this event, Maverick didn't saw the stringer of the thing come at him until the armor plating took the brunt of the hit and knocked him away at least several meters.

Groaning for the sudden hit, Maverick had little time to roll away as the stringer nearly met his head, then such event repeated itself, over and over, the chimera trying to stab Maverick on the head with its stringer and Maverick rolling on the ground trying to not get his head impaled by the thing, he really doesn't know how his hard skin would handle such massive thing.

After a while Maverick just grew angry, rolling one last time of the stringer he suddenly reached it with his left arm, gripping the appendix hard enough to crack the hard exoskeleton around it, it did crack under the pressure, he assume the tail, being the most flexible part of the chimera body, sans arms and legs, was the one with more soft like exoskeleton, unlike its torso, he was right.

With a roar he yanked the appendix to him with all he got, the sudden pull made the chimera to actually spin in the air and land hard on the ground, Maverick reincorporated fast, the tail still on his hand, now gripping it with both hands he pulled again, this time lifting the chimera and forcing it to its chest, there he rammed his leg to the back of the beast, gripped the tail by the base and pulled.

The chimera let out an unholy scream of pain as its tail was ripped off, the limb letting out blood out, this one a darker shade of red, tossing the tail aside Maverick kicked the beast again, lifting it up and then slamming it back to the ground with a hammer like strike with his hands.

The chimera by this moment was beyond angry, after that hammer like blow the beast recovered fast, much to Maverick's shock and covered the distance between them rather fast, even to a Deathclaw, the chimera then opened its massive pincer like jaw and bit his whole waist.

Maverick let out a grunt of annoyance as he was bitten and basically driven to a wall by the chimera, annoyance became utter rage when the thing began to breathe fire while biting his waist, burning whatever remained of his pants and part of his shirt, still pinned to a wall Maverick suddenly rammed his fists to the armored head of the chimera, so far no dice, yet he could see the muscles on the backside of the chimera working overtime.

"_This is a planned maneuver, it pins and bites the target, immobilizing it and hopefully crushing it or burning it, if it doesn't dies then it tries to stab it with its stinger" _he thought, now glad he got rid of the tail in general.

Soon he grew annoyed by the chimera not wanting to relent on biting him, and honestly the biting and fire was getting rather uncomfortable, so he tried something else, grabbing the horns of the chimera, Maverick pulled upwards, hoping to make the beast's head move to the way he wanted, what he didn't expect was to actually rip the horns off, the chimera howled in pain, but didn't relent on biting him, but now Maverick had another idea, with horns in hands, he aimed the sharp tips at the scorpion eyes of the chimera and plunged them all the way, now that made the chimera release him, or rather toss him away.

Rolling out Maverick saw that chimera roar in pain, trying in vain to pluck out the horns with its pincer like hands, seizing his chance Maverick aimed That Gun and activated V.A.T.S. immediately he took an even greater aim to the two remaining eyes and fired.

If the beast was in pain before, now it was suffering alright, blinded and all, all it could do was breathe fire randomly and sweep its claws around, not an effective way to kill your opponent, something Maverick noted, with a grin and a yell he rushed at the chimera, tackled it to the ground and then began to choke it with one hand, the chimera tried in vain to fight back, and tried to ignite Maverick point-blank, only to stop altogether when Maverick shoved That Gun at the open mouth of the beast.

"Open wide and say ahhhh"

**BANG!**

The back of the head of the chimera exploited with blood and some brain matter, and stopped altogether of fighting, now dead and gone.

Maverick pulled his right arm out of the chimera's mouth, cleaning some blood and saliva of his arm with what remained of his clothes, then holstered That Gun.

"…Hey" Maverick turned around, spotting the survivors of the attack of the chimera, still on…where those shopping carts?

"Can you help us?" truth to be told the tunnelers would rather try their luck being slaves and trying to remove the slave collars than rather ask for one of the sons of war to help them, but they had just seen him kill that…demon, barehanded, and well, he looked different.

"Sure" Maverick said without missing a beat, in less than five minutes, the remaining tunnelers that were bounded were freed by Maverick, which still left a problem, the device on their necks.

"Hmm, explosive collars" Maverick mussed, looking at one of the collars, at least one that was not attached to the neck of one of the survivors, "I can remove them, but it will be a delicate and nerve shattering operation" he stated.

Soon the tunnelers would find out that the 'sensitive and nerve shattering' way as he put it was simply hold an end of the collar with his hands, and rip them apart.

So it was comprehensible that when he did it the first time, the tunneler, a male, screamed like a little girl when he did that.

Well at least he didn't try to bash it open with a rock.

After that Maverick took on his way, leaving the tunnelers to try to remake their lives, he told them they could take whatever they wanted off the bodies of the raiders, and had helped tossing away the corpse of the chimera, after he took the venom out of the tail and stringer with some empty syringes.

For their part, the tunnelers of that specific section were never seen again, they just took their things, the raider weapons and head on to 'Haven' an area designated by the tunnelers in general to gather after the first battle of the Enclave and the brotherhood, and which was rumored a family of individuals who were adverse to sunlight lived.

Yet these tunnelers would carry with them the story of one of the sons of war, their estranged brothers and sisters that lived in the fancy tunnels and had emerged out of the tunnels to wage war and spill blood, the story of one of them who spilled blood, to save them of a demon.

* * *

><p>"Sarah!"<p>

"Father!"

For the first time ever since the war and the disappearance of Sarah Lyons, Elder Owyn Lyons was seen with a smile, the cause of this was of course the return of his only daughter to him.

The hug they partake was emotional for many, after all Sarah had become the emotional anchor for Elder Lyons before and during the war, after she vanished he just…became a shell, but now they could see him again as the man he was before, not a frail old man, but their leader, their elder.

"It is…oh praise Maxson you're back" Owyn said with a small smile, "That I am dad, thought not alone" she said, breaking the hug and allowing her father to take a good look at her, and what she had with her.

"A T-51b" he murmured, then spotted her new weapon, "And a RCW, my you do come with surprises, a heavily modified power armor and a laser machinegun" he said, "Is not all I brought from captivity" Sarah said, motioning Veronica to come over.

"I know is a little rushed and you want to find out who kidnapped me so you can bring steel vengeance on them, but I assure you, they are already dealt with, with the upmost prejudice possible" she said allowing to Veronica stand by her side.

"You brought friends as well" he added, by now several knights and paladins were celebrating the return of their most fierce warrior and sister, it hadn't been the same without her, and the scribes were working overtime to update her chapter and erase the KIA status on her.

"Not a friend, a sister, Veronica Santangelo, Mojave Chapter" Sarah introduced, many knights actually rose an eyebrow, the Mojave Wasteland was known for being perhaps the less bombed and irradiated wasteland know in North America, a natural desert that got even harsher after the great War.

"I see" he said, looking at Veronica, "You are a long way home-"

"Scribe, Elder Lyons, yet distance hasn't stopped me from hearing about you guys…and I want to help" Veronica stated, this statement was met with some hesitation by various people, after all the reason they had to recruit locals was because Lost Hills had cut them of any kind of reinforcements, and the Outcasts, even in this war, were as bitter as ever of them.

"Is that so" Elder Lyons said, "Yeah, I know you won't believe me, but I know what you're doing is right, the Brotherhood of Steel will die if we don't get new blood and change our goals, enduring on a hole is a vault dweller thing, not ours" Veronica said, "Besides, you're helping people, they should make you High Elder instead if alienating you" she added.

"Try telling that to the elders on Lost Hills, they firmly believe that we can endure everything, the war, NCR, even-"

"The Legion" Sarah stated, drawing a surprised look of her father, "I know about them, we met them back where I was, this part however got snared with Amata"

"So the Enclave was involved in your disappearance"

"Hardly, we just found them by mere chance, crazy thing about being a prisoner, you meet odd people" Sarah said, there Owyn understood what she meant, "You mean…Maverick, right?" he asked.

"Yep, the black sheep of Vault 101, just like his dad" Sarah said, there Cross stepped in, "Elder, Maverick is James son" she said, two people, beside the elder looked at Cross with wide eyes, one of them a woman on a lab robe, her hair like if she hadn't washed herself or combed it for days.

"So…Madison was right, James left the vault, and it seems the son followed close" Owyn muttered, "Not so close, he got kidnapped the moment he got out, spend six months as a lab rat, when I met him he had no idea about the war" Sarah stated, some knights snorted at that, not believing that a vault dweller was on their side, let alone unaware of the war his kind fomented.

"Hard to believe" Owyn began, "You'll see when you meet him, he should be here by know" Sarah said, starting to walk away, "I'll go wait in the entrance, Veronica, talk to my father, explain him what you want to do, he'll understand, remember you already have my support" with that Sarah walked away of the labs, by his part Elder Lyons just gave Veronica a look, he would have all the time on the world to talk with his daughter, this required his attention.

"Okay…how to put this…what do you feel about a girl from California with stars in her eyes and a pneumatic gauntlet joining your chapter elder?" she asked with a nervous smile.

"…I say that has to be the most strange way to ask it" he confessed honestly, "Nevertheless we need people such a yourself, by my part, you are already part of this chapter, we will work the finer details later" he said as he turned around, "Rothchild, take over for me here, I'll join my daughter in waiting this man" he said as he walked away of the lab, leaving some shocked knights and scribes.

"What? What's the shock?" Veronica asked, "Elder Lyons hasn't left the lab ever since Sarah vanished"

* * *

><p>He was in a hurry, really, he said that himself the moment he took on like the devil was behind him, reason why he was already on the citadel entrance, at least he believed it was the entrance.<p>

The door, on simple terms was the thickest piece of metal he had ever seen, and recognized it immediately as a piece of a mechanical pile driver, used before the Great War to basically remove massive pieces of rock and land, to create trenches in controlled areas, maybe that's how the trenches back at the mall were made.

"Well, but if it is a vault dweller-" one of the knights said upon seeing Maverick's pip-boy, he was about to fire his minigun, but actually thought that back once he saw Maverick's boomstick, and the way he carried himself, he looked more in a hurry rather that waning to fight.

This seemed the case when he approached the intercom near the massive doors, a design flaw many knights had complained about, the knight was about to stop him, that was until Maverick pressed the button and began to speak.

"Okay Sarah I'm here, open the doors" Maverick stated, the two knights guarding the door were about to raise their weapons and tell him off when the massive doors actually opened, at least enough for him to step in, once he did so the massive door was closed behind him, leaving two knights wondering what the hell just happened.

Inside Maverick saw that behind the doors, at least five knights, armed with what seemed laser miniguns stood, pointing at him, ready to fire.

"At ease knights" Sarah suddenly said, appearing from one of the doors on the bottom of the rubble hall, the knights took this as a sign, and were eager to see what the dweller was going to get from Sarah Lyons, the woman who lost her loved one at the hands of a vault dweller.

What a shock they got when she actually smiled and stepped aside, "I see you got a rough trip" she said causally, leading Maverick with her, "You don't say" was all the dweller drily stated as they went to the courtyard.

"Okay…what just happened?" one of the knights asked to the other, no one could really answer.

After all not everyone in the Citadel had heard the message of 'The Maverick of Vault 101'

* * *

><p>"I need ideas people, how we deal with this?"<p>

"We receive reports from outpost 24; they haven't seen the convoy at all after their last report"

"Outpost 15 and 20 states the same"

Coronel Autumn bit a curse as he tried to process all the scattered info he was receiving from the comm. Operators.

It seemed the commandos send to attack GNR with the newly created BOW had never arrived, an eyebot had already been deployed to scout the last known location of the convoy, at least of what outpost 34, the last outpost to ever seen the commandos had said.

"Is like our luck had turned on us the moment that guy made himself know" Autumn bit the urge to shoot the operator because there were already so few of them that killing each other just for petty comments would just be infantile.

Yet he had to give the guy some credit, hard to believe or not, ever since Maverick made himself know, or better said ever since he set foot on The Capital Wasteland, things had turned bad for the Enclave, not bad in the sense they are screwed over, but in the annoying way of bad.

It was fortunate that Maverick was back, now they could lure James out of whatever hole he was in, he wasn't on a Vault, the closest vault, 112 was basically sleeping pods, and last they checked, James wasn't there, at least he wasn't there in the first place, they should check it again.

Some people couldn't see that they were the good guys, they were bringing law and order back to the wasteland, just like NCR was doing it, but they would not only bring law and order, they would bring peace, prosperity, technology, safety, all that which NCR couldn't accomplish, they would also bring America, the old America, the old government would rise again.

True their methods were questionable, but in a harsh world, were everyone did everything they could to survive, to kill, to rape, to steal, what right they had to judge them?

"Eyebot 34 just arrived to the area the convoy send its last signal" one of the operators spoke, "Opening visual link…god mighty" Autumn grimaced, the eyebots, just like their names said, were machine eyes, they were the eyes of the Enclave when they were getting ready to their return, their little scouts that were expendable, and easy to built, he knew that there had been another eyebot project, one where the speed of the machines would be exploited to its max, adding a duraframe armor plating to the bot and some extra firepower, creating versatile combat/scout bots, of course that project was scrapped and changed for the Hellfire armor program.

And here he was, seeing from the optic sensors of the eyebot at the last know location of the convoy and the remains of the commandos.

"…No life signs sir, they are all dead" the operator stated, feeling overwhelmed by the sight, "A lone man did this?"

"He didn't" Autumn stated, "he just fired a single round to the fusion engine, boom" Autumn had to praise Maverick, just one bullet to massacre almost forty men and their cargo…

"Make the eyebot look at the remains of the bus" Autumn commanded, not a second later the eyebot was rounding the damaged bus, trying to find anything out of the ordinary, at least Autumn was.

"There" he said, spotting the massive gaping hole to the right side of the bus, and the glaring amount of mauled bodies, "Looks like JK-1 got out before time" Autumn muttered, "Trace JK-1 integrated tracer" he commanded, soon a small red don't was shown in what seemed a rough sketch of the metro lines.

"We found it, metro lines, it is static"

"Must be feeding up" Autumn summarized, signaling to one of the operators to make the eyebot reach that particular destination, the operator did at so, and so the eyebot moved fast to the location, but even at full speed it took it fifteen minutes to reach the location of the JK-1 tracer, and during its trip they could see some interesting things.

"Tunneler territory" one of the operators muttered, "I hate those tribals" another stated.

"Focus" Autumn stated, his eyes trailing the once small amount of corpses of feral ghouls, an amount that began increasing exponentially, something everyone noted, such was their shock when they saw the almost insane amount of dead ghouls and the wounds on them.

"…Large ammunition was used" Autumn muttered, seeing some of the ghouls, the ones in 'one piece' at least those with still visible torsos.

"It looks like Maverick poses some sort of heavy ordinance, interesting" Autumn mussed, with a head motion he made, the comm. Operator send an order to the eyebot to proceed, once it did, they got quite shocked of what they saw.

There it lay, the JK-1, the first of a series of Bio-engineered weapons, splices of DNA of some of the most dangerous animals the Wasteland could generate, spliced together into this abominable human made killing machine, while some have taken into calling it 'Chimera' for its incredible resemblance to the mythological chimera, the scientist that had worked on the project rather call it JK-1, and would surely mad as hell once they see their precious BOW as it is.

They assured not even a Vault Dweller could kill it, that its thick exoskeleton could withstand Gauss Rifle rounds, point-blank, and that nothing in this world could kill it.

But here it was, dead, with its horns, part of the Deathclaw DNA that could not be purged, stuck into its eyes, the others blown by something, the Albino Radscorpion tail ripped clean of its base, laying somewhere around, with at least two abrasions on the torso, Gauss rounds, not to mention the fatal wound, a gunshot point-blank, into the mouth, coming out of the most soft spots of the beast head, brain and blood splattered around.

Autumn didn't admit it at first, but he was afraid, whatever had done this to the killing machine they had made, and yet live was something that made Frank Horrigan, a beast that killed Deathclaws with just its bare hands, look like a baby in comparison, the claws of a Deathclaw mixed with Albino Radscorpion venom and pincers, alongside its exoskeleton and the rare breed of Fire ants 'Pyrosis' and viciousness that outshined Deathclaw, all mashed together into a beast capable of laying waste to anything on its path, and yet it was not enough.

"Sir…do…do you think…the target actually did all this?" one of the operators asked, for once in his time, Autumn was lost of words, The Chosen One had killed everything on his path to get his people out of the Oilrig, Frank Horrigan and the President in that moment included, yet not even the Chosen One had been this…brutal.

They were not facing a common Vault Dweller, they were facing a monster.

A monster only Amata knew how it was born.

Autumn decided it was high-time to pull out the truth of what really happened during her absence and encounter with Maverick before she let her lose.

After all he did read Moby Dick, and he knows that Maverick is Amata's big white whale.

He had to know what she knew before she ended like Ahab.

"…So that's Liberty Prime" Maverick muttered, "Yep, as mean

* * *

><p>as it gets Maverick, I won't bore you with technical stuff, suffice to say that is armed to bear, dual Vulcan guns mounted and hidden on the forearms of Prime, Missile launchers mounted on the torso, three nukes strapped to the back and laser eyes, a pre-war giant" Sarah stated.<p>

"A sleeping one, why the brotherhood hasn't deployed it, with that kind of firepower you would have won the war easily" he asked.

"Is not a matter of energy, at least not anymore, our scribes and Doctor Madison Li finally worked that out, but another problem came, apparently the IFF Prime uses to identify friend from foe on the field is a very outdated version found on every single bot in the wasteland, without constant maintenance it degrades, and in time sees everything as targets" Sarah said, turning to face him.

"Now you see why I need Sally here, by the time I was gone no one has been able to find a workaround to the issue, but Sally can, with her smarts alone she can do this" she added, "With you and Prime on the field we can turn the tide of the war to our favor, imagine this, you on Vault 101, severely crippling them, while Prime lays waste on Raven's Rock, meanwhile our forces can focus on their bases and outposts scattered throughout the wasteland, then, and then…we reclaim Project Purity!" she exclaimed, Maverick by his part didn't know what to think of Sarah's plan.

"I don't know Sarah, winning with overwhelming brutality and firepower seems a little…extreme" he stated, "They set the pace of this war Maverick, not us, and we have been following it ever since, truth to be told I would rather use guerrilla tactics, or put a bullet between Eden's eyes, that would end the war for sure, but since none of that is going to happen" she stated, her hands over her armored waist, looking at Liberty Prime.

"If we let them win, then all free people on the Capital wasteland will suffer" she said, gaining a thoughtful look, then turning to Maverick, "Come with me Maverick, I need to show you something" she said, motioning Maverick to follow her out of the labs, aware of the stares he had attracted ever since he had entered the lab, hell ever since he entered the Citadel with Sarah at his side.

He has to admit that a Vault Dweller being escorted by Sarah Lyons, daughter of the elder and leader of the Brotherhood in the Capital Wasteland, with half-burned, tattered clothes covering some sort of hi-tech armor and carrying a BFG like if it was a handgun and not killing everything on sight like every other Vault Dweller, would of course drew the attention of everyone, and every single gun aimed at him.

Not that he could blame them, in the little time he had spend in the Capital Wasteland he had found a lot of hostility against him, and his actions that went against everything the wastelanders knew about Vault Dwellers made them skeptic about his true goals, which he has to confess still focus on finding his father…and surely killing anything Enclave related along the way.

He is still not sure how to deal with the other Vault Dwellers, how could he? He grew with them, he saw them age, change, he remembers when Christine was shy, how Butch used to be an ass, how Susie, Jackie and Carrie used to hang around like glued to the hips, the 'ies' as his dad nicknamed them for how their names ended, how Wally and Paul were…different.

Now things were bad, if he heard right, Christine had nearly 90% of her body burned when she rescued her little sister Monica, Butch is leader of a man only shock unit, The Tunnel Snakes, in the end he got his gang, Jackie had to escape once she found out she had sensitive info and was marked for termination, Susie and Carrie were Amata's personal guards and part of the 'Femme Fatale' Paul and Wally died by his hand, and Amata…now that was the hard part, the friend he knew, the friend he cherished was dead, dead as Paul and Wally, and then reborn as…something else.

"Where are you taking me Sarah" he asked, she didn't answered, she just kept guiding him underground, even deeper that the lab where Prime was located.

"The pentagon, as you plainly put it before, housed some of the best minds on warfare during the pre-war era, the lab was place underground the pentagon, but it was hardly underground and hidden" Sarah said, approaching what seemed an elevator door.

"We'll be going five floors down the labs Maverick, there we found a stash of Power Armors, T-45d models, the one most knights here use, nothing compared to the T-51b, also they had a parking lot there" Sarah said, Maverick actually gave her a look that said 'really?'

"We restocked of basically everything here, father's finding of a pre-war installation, with intact equipment, but outdated, and with Liberty Prime allowed him to pass of Paladin to Elder, anyway" she said, pressing a button and calling the elevator.

"When the war began, we began receiving a lot of refugees from many settlements and small encampments created by tribals, nomads trying to find a place in this god forsaken land, the Enclave's view of every single person not born in the Enclave is trash didn't help much, by the first month of the war, the Citadel was already a refugee camp" Sarah said, looking at maverick straight in the eye.

"By the time I was kidnapped by the aliens, the courtyard was already beyond storing capabilities, we moved every single tribal and their homes here" she said as the elevator stopped with a small jerk, "A small malfunction on the brakes, 200 years old of course" she said, Maverick by his part actually looked at Sarah like she had grew a second head.

"So, you purposely guide me to a malfunctioning elevator? What for?" he asked, "We could have used the stairs of course, but the guys guarding the entrance…let's say that Deloria and his gang strolled around and their tribe paid a heavy price in saving their few women and children, so they basically hate Vault Dweller guts" Sarah stated, "We have to cross a small checkpoint, but this road doesn't has guards at all, so no one will try to kill you on the spot…not that they can in fact" Sarah added.

"That's not the point" Maverick said as the elevator doors opened with a skin crawling grind of metal, "Just because they can't doesn't mean is not annoying, well it is" he said as he exited the elevator, and was welcomed with a brass knuckled fist to the face.

"AHHH MY FINGERS!"

Sarah didn't knew if to either punch the guy for attacking Maverick like that, or just feel pity for the guy, Veronica had the benefit of a whole metallic gauntlet covering her hands and her knuckles being protected by a thick metallic plate, the guy had just bronze made brass knuckles to enhance the blow, and it seemed all it did was to break his fingers.

"Ah hell bells, why every time I exit an elevator, this happens?" Maverick wondered out loud, actually not caring if he drew attention to him, not that Sarah actually minded at that, but it seemed that stealth and tact were not Maverick's forte.

The man simply gave Maverick a long glare, Maverick by his part noted the highly tanned skin of the man, surely to the exposure to the sun, not to mention the red like tattoos in the shape of bird claws located on his cheekbones and the fact his hair was set on a very short Mohawk.

"Crow Claw, you better have a reason for having done that" Sarah hissed, looking at the after mentioned Crow Claw, the man by his part gave Sarah and Maverick, especially Maverick a dirty glare, "Do not demand explanations of me daughter of steel, you bring this bastard son of the ground to our home like if he was a friend of you" Crow Claw snarled, Maverick nearly seized Crow Claw by the neck when he said he was a bastard son, but held himself, he could see he was a tribal, and he could not hold him account for his hostility to him or any other Vault Dweller.

"He is a friend of me" Sarah stated, "And for the record you're lucky you have just a broken hand, last person who punched him like that ended up as a pile of goo" she added as she motioned Maverick to follow her.

"Uh…sorry about the hand" Maverick said, not noticing how Crow Claw narrowed his eyes at him.

"This, Maverick, is the reservoir" Sarah said, motioning Maverick to stare at basically the massive parking lot that was teeming with human life, most cars that were once in the underground parking lot were stripped bare of everything that could be used to make a home, the frame and engine included, which might explain how each home had electricity.

"They are using the fusion engines to power their homes" Maverick muttered, passing a crude made home and seeing how an elderly woman gave him a wide look once she saw his pip-boy, and the boomstick.

"Each person living here are tribals that came to the Capital Wasteland from the south and west, all escaping what seemed to be a tide of 'red men'" Sarah stated.

"Caesar Legion" Maverick said, noticing how men bristled upon the mention of the name, "Yep, from what I could gather from Cross when I came here before, the tribal influx stopped two weeks after I got kidnapped, so what you see here is a good chunk of the Capital Wasteland civilian population" Sarah said, guiding Maverick to what seemed a bar/restaurant, it looked more like a bar due for the amount of beer stashed near a stool, and the smell of alcohol.

Soon both were seated, Sarah actually asking for a bottle of Vodka to drink, Maverick would have refused hadn't been for the fact that when he passed his GOAT, his dad actually procured a bottle of Vodka, and he and Amata were drinking it rather than Nuka-Cola, the hangover the once inseparable duo got was legendary, somehow neither Alphonse not Amata's newly minted boyfriend, the deceased Marcus knew about that, it was a secret Maverick, Amata and his dad knew about.

"Here, have a drink" Sarah said, offering the bottle of Vodka to Maverick, "No glasses?" he asked, "We don't have the luxury of having clean rags or pure water to clean the glasses, we share the bottle, true is not exactly something hygienic, but what the hell" she said, Maverick just gave a long sigh and drank, it a small zip, like he used to drink back in Vault 101, Sarah noticed this and snorted.

"Maverick, you have near invulnerability, and you take kid zips?" Sarah stated, taking the bottle of his hands and taking a long swing of it, "Oh yeah! I was missing this, irradiated Vodka!" she exclaimed.

"The Russians must be proud of this, the non-irradiated one I took taste the same" Maverick said, "You drank? A goody-two shoe vault dweller? How you guys even got Vodka to begin with?" Sarah asked.

"A long story, to make it short, I was sixteen, the GOAT had placed me as my dad's assistant, and to celebrate it he broke on the Overseer's private stash, and gave me and Amata a long lesson on how to drink" Maverick said fondly, Sarah could see he liked that memory in particular, and who wouldn't, getting piss off drunk with your best friend after an exam, she did all the time when she was an initiate and when she became a knight, sadly her best friend had died just two months after they had become knights, a raider getting a lucky shot a car's fusion engine and blowing it near her, there was little she could find of her, besides her holotags.

"You still have doubts on facing her don't you?" Sarah asked.

"Can't blame me here, you would do the same on my position, is just that…it feels so surreal, six months ago she helped me escape, the next time I see her she shot me, twice, and I ended up breaking her ribs and making her vomit blood with a vicious punt" he stated, Sarah rose an eyebrow at that.

"Not to mention all the horrible crimes she has committed, I feel…like this isn't real at all" he added, "Oh but is real Maverick, too real, I do sometimes believed this was a dream, that I would wake up one day with Dan at my side, and actually laugh at the stupid dream, but here we are, me a woman who hates vault dwellers and has been waging a war against them and a shadow pre-war government organization hell-bend on human purity, and you, a enhanced vault dweller that can take magnum rounds to the face and break a Deathclaw's neck with ease and without sweating, not to mention what you did to the Overlord" Sarah stated, "And you know what's funny?" he shook his head.

"I never imagined myself sharing a drink with a vault dweller, deep within the reservoir, filled to the brim with hostile tribals wanting to take your scalp" she stated, taking a swing of her Vodka bottle.

"So…why you brought me here, in the middle of the hornet nest" he asked, Sarah by her part took another swing of her Vodka, then looked at Maverick straight in the eyes, "I wanted to show you…to show you those who have suffered by this war" Sarah said, Maverick easily understood what she wanted to relay to him, without Prime fully functional they wouldn't end the war, that meant more people would die without need.

"You don't need to guilt trip me Sarah, I know what's at stake, what worries me is what you guys will do once this war is over and with Liberty Prime fully operational" Maverick asked, to Sarah this was a valid question, The Brotherhood of Steel was both revered and feared as one of the few powers to ever hold their own against the New California Republic, and while the Capital Wasteland Chapter held no grudge against NCR, Lost Hills would surely demand the use of Prime against any enemy of the BOS, after all there is no way to safe keep such technological marvel such as Prime, it was meant to be used as a weapon of war, and she knew that Maverick feared the moment people would actually get over their heads and use Prime to basically wage war, thus generating more deaths.

"Truth to be told I don't know, I know dad won't abuse of Prime, and basically you have the favor of a girl that commands her own ship" Sarah began, her words low and chosen so they don't blow the secret of Mothership Zeta.

"Lost Hills don't want us, that's for sure, they cut our reinforcements when dad chose the people of the wasteland over the Brotherhood directives and main goals, that caused a lot of people to leave us and become the Outcasts, still loyal to the cause of gathering technology and letting it gather dust" Sarah said with a smirk, "But I know this, I won't allow anyone to abuse of Prime's power, and neither yours" that made him raise an eyebrow.

"You might not see it, but you are an asset, a very important one, in time, like Sally said you will be as strong, if no stronger than Lanius-"

"WHAT!" whatever Sarah was about to say was interrupted when another tribal, this one with a chalk painted hand on his face, looking at the duo in shock, "You fought the monster of the east?" the man said.

"Chalkhand" Sarah muttered, looking at the greatest gossip of the reservoir, and part of the 'chalk' tribe, their name was due to their use and sometimes abuse of chalk to mark their bodies, how they kept the chalk marks on their bodies for life she would never know.

"You fought the monster…how you live?" the after mentioned Chalkhand asked, his shouts had drew the few people at the makeshift bar to surround Maverick and Sarah.

"Yeah, I fought him, it wasn't easy" Maverick stated to Chalkhand, remembering fully well that Lanius had been a superior foe, and only luck, and a space-station blowing up in the vacuum of space had ended the man-drone that Legate Lanius had become at the hands of the aliens.

"We know" Chalkhand stated, "My tribe was one of the man tribes Lanius hunted to near extinction and conquered, all in the name of Caesar, 19 tribes, their lives, their blood, their history erased by Lanius, some tribes survived by fleeing into the badlands" one of the tribals stated.

"The badlands?" Maverick asked, "Hell on earth Maverick, basically America is divided in two thanks to a desert that is filled with some of the most vicious raider tribes ever know, and some of the most dangerous animals know, crossing the badlands is a risk itself, there is little to no water, irradiated or not, the same stands for food, and the fauna there is as much as food as you are food to them, I know it" Sarah stated, remembering fully well the march of the Brotherhood trough the badlands, and entering the Pitt, which in turn allowed safe access to the Capital Wasteland.

Of course they had taken the north path, a 'safer' path to pass the badlands, safer being used loosely of course.

"So…the beast is dead?" the same tribal asked, Maverick noted that the man had his face devoid of any kind of facial painting, but had his whole right ear pierced.

"Yeah, saw it myself, consumed in a bigass ball of green fire…alongside with the base me, Sarah and a lot of people escaped from" the man seemed to take the news on stride, not showing any kind of emotion at this, just standing up and slightly nodding his head to Maverick, then leaving.

"That's Wolf upon Skull, part of the red desert tribe, they lived on the badlands, tougher people you'll ever meet, but not even them survived the Legion, story goes that Wolf upon Skull fought the monster of the east, and barely made it out alive, his wife actually was the reason he is alive, she stabbed Lanius on the back with a fork, near the neck, that allowed him to escape, but his wife wasn't so lucky" Chalkhand stated, "Lanius is not someone to be crossed, especially if you're a woman" he added as he also walked away.

Maverick and Sarah just stared at each pother, then shrugged, it was not something they could fix now, at least Lanius was dead, so his many victims could now rest in peace.

Neither noticed the old lady staring at Maverick with a glassed look, and then a small, mirthful smile decorated her aged face.

"Ah…the son of man comes to right the sins made to the world, about time" she said as she turned around, her eyes crossing with the one of a man on a trench coat and a fedora, on his hand he held a small duffle bag.

"Wait until he is asleep, then you can leave it there" she stated, "I am stealthy enough to do that Madam" the man said.

"Good" was all she said as she walked away, then stopped and looked at the man, once again, "You should go to your son once you give him your gift, all sons and daughters need their parents" the old woman said as she hunched away of the fedora wearing man.

"It doesn't matter if their parents are strangers to them"

* * *

><p>"We should launch an all-out assault at the Citadel; let's put an end to this pathetic war once and for all!"<p>

"Discretion is part of our initiative; if we start shooting like crazy we will lose any kind of support we have of the population"

"Megaton and Canterbury Commons hardly qualify as population; most of them are in the Citadel!"

"Not to mention that Paradise Falls would capitalize this opportunity to gains more slaves, ever since the Pitt fell by unknown reasons"

"We have that well in mind, but this…Maverick cannot be allowed to live, his presence alone has already caused disturbances on Megaton, not to mention the fact Vault 1010 closed its doors immediately after the broadcast"

"Not to mention that killing him will make him a martyr for a rebellion"

"His very public and painful execution will deter any sort of rebellion forming"

"…he cannot be killed"

That made the war council held in Raven's Rock stop dead in their tracks, all eyes were focused on one Augustus Autumn, "And why is that Coronel?" one John Boon, head scientist of the Enclave asked.

"The JK-1 was found dead" was all Autumn said, silencing immediately any sort of answer of the head scientist, "The Chimera was killed, by who?" Rosa De Castilla, part of the Enclave's detachment on what use to be Navarro base wondered, her eyes focused on the form of Autumn.

"I talked to Almodovar before, Amata I mean, she didn't told me where she was this past month, but she admits that they were being held in a high-tech facility, one that six months prior held the son of James there, for six months they experimented with him, they turned him into some sort of superhuman fighting machine, one strong enough to engage the JK-1 barehanded and kill it, strong and fast enough to face trained individuals, Power Armored individuals, and also kill them, to kill Super Mutants alone, he is basically bulletproof and laser and plasma proof, if what we saw before was of any indication"

Of course Autumn was referring to the footage of the Capitol, "Heavy ordinance seem to have little to none effect on him, and I must remind you all that the Brotherhood of Steel has any know kind of magnetic propelled weaponry, so using that on him is out of the question" he finished.

"Then what you suggest, roll over and die?" De Castilla snarled, "He didn't say that, if we could turn him to our cause and see our goals…"

"He won't accept them, he is his father's son Amata's admits, a coin with the same face on both sides, our only chance to deal with this…superhuman is to overwhelm him it seems" Boon asked.

"And sacrifice my men so you can have Maverick on a slab? Not a chance in hell, I would rather drink arsenic before I sacrifice my men for a goal that might be impossible" Autumn stated firmly.

"Then what do you suggest Coronel?" President Eden asked, "I said I wouldn't sacrifice my men, I never said the vault dwellers were my men, is time to use them at its fullest, we will conscript every able body in the vault, excluding women and children below the age of sixteen and above the age of fifty, they will hunt and bring Maverick to us, after all what better way to bring down a Vault dweller that another Vault dweller, also we will outfit their pip-boys with tracking devices, so we can track their every move while they hunt Maverick down" Autumn stated.

"And if they fail coronel?" Eden, "As I said, they are not my men, I won't be hold accounted for their failure, rather I would pass…the torch to Maverick's most vicious opponent"

"Almodovar" Boon said with a grin, "But who Almodovar to chose, his daughter, or the man itself?" De Castilla asked, "I say Alphonse, he will be driven by fear of Maverick retaliation on him, and will make the dwellers sacrifice their lives for him just he can escape, a fitting role I dare say" the others nodded, Eden even more.

"And the brotherhood, Lyons's daughter is back, this will bring morale up to their forces"

"We have superior numbers, we will succeed" Eden stated, this finalized the meeting, each one of the members of the war council walked away, Autumn by his part made his way towards Amata's room immediately, once there he saw Amata, still clad in a power armor, waiting for him.

"Good news Almodovar, you and your people have green light to hunt Maverick and bring it here dead or alive" Autumn smirked as Amata smiled maliciously, her fingers twitched in anticipation, something he noted, "About fucking time"

* * *

><p>At Midnight an elderly women sat in the middle of a metal hut, in the middle of the hut burned a small fire, a bonfire, the elderly lady simply began to chant as she pulled some dust out of a pouch and threw it over the fire, this one immediately taking shape and size.<p>

"The sons and daughters of war march" she chanted in a trance, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, slightly shaking, around her were heads of several tribes, of the remaining tribes, all seeking council from the only remaining shaman and elder of any tribe.

All focused on the man that has killed Lanius, if someone was able to kill the monster of the east, then it was worth asking to the shaman for council to approach him, either as an ally, or something else.

Of course they didn't expect her to actually began chanting and asking the spirits about the immediate future.

"They all come for one man, like a pack of coyotes swarming on the wounded Yao Guai" she continued, now on her left hand she held a bag of something, it clanked every time she swung it around, in any moment she would recover of her trance, and then she would throw the bag, whatever it contained it would allow her to say accurately the future of this person.

"They don't know they are facing someone who ascended to the sky, just one of them knows, and chose bliss of ignorance for her allies" that brought some murmurs of the men, but they quiet themselves down to hear the rest.

"They try to slay a man, but they will be slain by a giant, a giant that will nurture a two headed cub, on his feet shielding a woman oozing blood of her head with his shadow" they didn't understand the last part, but they did get the first two parts, the unholy sons of the ground would face something beyond their normal comprehension and in time he would actually held the future of the people of the two headed bear nation within his hand, after all that nation was still in infancy.

"Ahhhh, mmmmhhh, uuuummmm" she began, slowly moving around, making some sort of dance around the bonfire, the men tensed up, this was it.

With a scream the elderly woman tossed the bag to fire, her eyes focused again as the bag impacted on the fire and then exploited, causing the fire to rise, yet no smoke rose out of the oddly blue painted fire.

The men dared not to speak, as they had seen something odd, they had seen orange fire, red fire, at one time black fire, that black fire was followed by the attack of the tribe of the elderly shaman by Lanius and his men, their survival was tied to the shaman's predictions, but those that have live with her and knew her predictions never had seen blue fire before.

The shaman stopped, and stared at the fire, then went to her knees, and took a deep breath.

"The spirits have spoken, the unbranded will bring victory"

Immediately the men exploited in shouts and celebrations like no other person outside the tribes had heard.

The people outside the elderly shaman's tent, upon hearing jubilees shouts, began their own, some dancing, others thanking the spirits, but in all, it was pure crazy unadulterer happiness.

The shaman smiled at this, she had a good feeling upon seeing the boy, she hoped the stranger had left his gift.

It turns out he did.

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><p><strong><em>And there you go people, another chapter, I really hope I didn't take too much time updating you all with this chapter, in any case i hope you have enjoyed this chapter, as usual read and review, until a next time, Hypn0s signs off.<em>**


	10. 9: This is War, part 1

_**Hello my readers, it is I! Hypn0s, bringing you another chapter of The Chornicles of Maverick!**_

_**Now before we start, i want to confess that this chapter was originally going to be long, way long, i mean twice as long as any other chapter in this story, but I decided you guys might get tired of reading too much, and let's face it, the way I broke this is going to make you drool for me, as it stands, the second part of this chapter is half-way of being completed, must finish up some touches on the battle scenes, and then, surely by the end of this year you will be readiong part two.**_

_**now, without any delay, i give you all, part one of this long chapter, enjoy.**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 9: THIS IS WAR, PART 1<strong>

Morning rolled out in the Capital Wasteland, at least to the wounded and wastelanders who had a place to sleep and was well protected to both the environment and creatures, the night on the wasteland on general is cold, all things considered.

This rule remains the same on several structures, when one is looking for shelter, a bed with a lot of covers and a sturdy roof with equally sturdy walls and that can be easily defended.

The citadel was in fact like that, easily defended, sturdy enough to take any kind of assault, regardless if it was by land or air, and the very few entrances to the Citadel could be used as chokepoints to actually ambush their opponents, few defenders could easily, with the proper weapons, hold ten times their numbers.

Also this was a place where one could actually oversleep, most wastelanders had made a habit of waking up half an hour before dawn, brotherhood knights and Enclave soldiers doing this one hour before dawn, for Sarah and several scribes however, they never went to sleep.

For Sarah it was the return to the routine, never sleeping, and working on caffeine alone, like most scribes, but this was different however, she had been looking on the map files she had got from Jackie out of Wally's pip-boy, alongside the data Maverick got out of their server, now she grinded at that, those guys were surely pulling their hair out, trying to think of a way to counter Maverick, she betted a backpack full on caps that they would send the vault dwellers, after all what better way to deal with a vault dweller that with another one.

Problem was of course that none of them were as strong of sturdy as Maverick, even with a power armor on, they would stand little to no chance against him, even less when she trained him.

True, when she brought this idea after her little meeting with Maverick in the reservoir to her father and some knights present, they went ballistic, her father not so much, the other very much, she understood their apprehension, Maverick was perhaps the very first vault dweller to ever lay foot on the citadel, also he was the very first vault dweller to not perform any kind of depraved act like many of the other dwellers had done, raping, killing, murdering, slaughtering, drugging and basically marauding their way out of Vault 101.

She did point them out that he was a modified man, that the armor on him just provided a controlled stealth field without the side-effects, they didn't believe her of course, bringing a dweller back to the citadel had shot down her credibility down several notches, not to mention that some people got wind up that Maverick had contacts with someone that could actually repair Prime's IFF, the same person that had hacked the Enclave's orbital platform.

So here she was, looking around in the map of the Capital Wasteland, selecting a target so Maverick could prove his worth to the knights, she needed something that everyone has wanted to attack, something that everyone could celebrate its destruction.

Then it hit her, rather hard she might add, besides the Enclave and the Super Mutants, slavers were one of the main problems the Capital Wasteland had to deal with, hell this was a national problem, not local, and thankfully it was not organized that well, New California had to deal with the Slaver's Guild, perhaps the only organized slaver faction around, besides Caesar's Legion

It was a solid mission, one her father and others would accept, they weren't too thrilled on sending a vault dweller against the Enclave, even more with the connections he had with half of them, as he had admitted he didn't knew what to do with half of them, with some of them she agreed with the idea of introducing them to a bat to the face.

Now, however she had the means to help Maverick gain the trust of the Brotherhood of Steel, and by extend the people of the wasteland, a display of strength, of good will, what better way that to level the city of slavers and free many slaves, the fact that many of the children the vault dwellers had currently came from there and would by default cripple them was also a plus.

Let it be known that Sarah Lyons can multitask, help a friend while at the same time crippling her opponents and inflicting rightful revenge.

"Sentinel Lyons?" Sarah smiled at the mention of her name, not only that, but because of who had say it, no one else but squire Arthur Maxson, last of the Maxson line, rightful leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, not those stuck-up elders, he was the leader, she would follow Arthur to hell and back, of course the kid still needed training, lots of it, after all a true leader is not only adept in the arts of war.

"Squire Maxson" Sarah said, looking at the boy who had grown during the war and during her month away, the boy still looked as nervous as usual, but now he looked more mature, a little more confidant of himself, it was good, before the war he was a bundle of nerves, now, while he was still nervous whenever he was around her, he carried himself with some extra confidence.

She noted of course the thick leather like apron covering most of his torso and his legs, and the big gloves on his hands; also she saw several parts of energy weapons on the pockets of his apron, immediately recognizing what he had been doing after he was gone.

"I see you finally decided to put something into the war effort" Sarah said, motioning his apron, "Yes Sentinel, the knights needed an extra pairs of hands working with the laser rifles, the scribes were up against this, but Knight Gunny said to them that everyone would pull their weight here, even the heir" Arthur said, she also noticed that he was not longer speaking in a shuttering way and quoting parts of the codex.

"Good for you Arthur, I know there are kids helping with the weapons, I hope you made some friends" Sarah stated, looking again at the map, Arthur joining her.

"It is, most of them are tribals, but it matters little with how things are" Arthur said, then looked at Sarah, "I heard from some of them, well more of Chalkhand's daughter, Morning Sand that a vault dweller currently resides here" Arthur said, Sarah detected immediately some anxiety out of Arthur and she couldn't blame him, nor the fact Morning Sand, Chalkhand's equally gossiping daughter had told Arthur about Maverick, she was surprised that he wasn't saying 'that vault dweller with that big gun' as she had heard many knights speak of Maverick, mainly due to the size of The Boomstick and the ease Maverick carried it.

"Don't worry about Maverick, Squire Maxson" Sarah stated, Arthur actually blinked when her tone became serious, "He is perfectly harmless" she stated.

"Say that to the Enclave soldiers back at the Capitol" Sarah snorted at that, _"Speaking of the devil"_

"Hey Mav-the hell are you wearing?" Sarah, just like Arthur and several scribes had their eyes slightly wide upon seeing Maverick, some of them having been used to see him with just a shirt on covering some sort of hi-tech skin tight armor, this was however different.

For instance now he had pants and shoes, the pants being military grade black pants with three pouches on his left thigh and kneepads, with equal military black boots, there seemed to be some sort of three belts attached to his waist, if she believed correct, two of them were belts for holsters, while the third was more to keep his pants on, the torso was covered in what she believed was a grey colored bullet proof chest plate, flexible enough to actually bend onward, with a small protuberance to cover the neck and collarbone, she didn't knew if Maverick had something underneath the chest plate, besides the stealth armor, all thanks to the black duster he had on, the left sleeve removed to allow his pip-boy in, his right hand was covered of course in a black glove, while his left hand was covered by his pip-boy glove.

Sarah gave Maverick an once-over, looking at the armor for the lack of better words, it gave him and intimating look, and it oddly reminder her of the Desert Rangers, a group like the Brotherhood of Steel, that could trace their roots back at the Great War itself, but that had chose to help people, roaming the wasteland and tracking any and all evil in it, let it be raiders, slavers, Super Mutants and even Enclave soldiers, after all the Desert Rangers were trained in survival on the wasteland, unlike Enclave soldiers.

"The hell you got those clothes?" Sarah asked, "Don't know, I found them inside a duffle bag in the room I was sleeping in, it had a note of course, kinda polite if you ask me considering the era we live in" Maverick replied, making Sarah narrow her eyes, "Hardly" Sarah muttered, "Anyway what the letter said?" she asked.

"It said 'I hope this set last more than your last clothes, MS' I might have an idea who gave it to me" Maverick said, then turning to stare at the map in front of Sarah.

"Already planning the downfall of the Enclave?" Maverick asked, Sarah simply smirked and turned her attention to the map once again, "The data we got from Jackie's data on her pip-boy, alongside Wally's and the data you got I was able to update the map, take a look" Sarah said, pointing at the map.

"The Enclave has 75 communication outposts scattered all over the Capital Wasteland with crews of over three to four people, they act as small safehouses for squadrons and have enough supplies for them, ranging from weapons to armor and ammo, medicine and food included" Sarah said, the 75 safehouses she said being highlighted in green, suddenly 5 more were shown in red, "Those red ones are actual bases, three to four vertibirds are stationed there, they act as staging points for attacks, they have over fifteen to twenty people inside, mostly for guarding, one of their bases however is too damn close to my liking to the Citadel" Sarah said, then three more dots, this time in black appeared, Maverick noted that one of the dots was just in the location where Vault 101 was.

"I assume those are their bases" Maverick stated, "You assume correct Maverick, Raven's Rock, their main fortification, Vault 101, a secondary base and home of the Vault Dwellers and possibly place where critical Enclave personnel and families are located, and a newly discovered, thanks to Jackie, Adams Air Force Base" Sarah said, pointing at a point far on the north of the Capital Wasteland.

"As we stand now, we have little to no chance against them, even with you mauling them all" Sarah said, Arthur didn't knew why she said that, the Vault Dweller looked like any other person he knew around.

"So what you plan on doing?" Maverick asked, "Simple, we gain the people's trust"

"Don't you guys have that already?" Maverick wondered, looking at Arthur and hoping the kid had some answers, the kid had none.

"It is hardly like that" Sarah, Arthur and Maverick turned, Sarah smiling upon seeing her father walk in, a cup of coffee on his aged hands, and as usual his trusty laser pistol on his hip.

"Father" Sarah acknowledged, Arthur doing the same, but saying "Elder" instead of father, Maverick by his part smiled at the old man, nodding his head at the Elder and leader of the Brotherhood chapter, the man doing the same, but with some caution.

"Sarah, I assume this is the information Maverick and Veronica had on their possession" Sarah nodded, "It has, I'm just checking what targets to attack first, I recommend the communication outposts first, they will yield the best results wise in equipment and territory" Sarah suggested.

"Those bases must be linked, so when we attack one the rest will know about it, and they will be prepared, maybe a coordinated assault?" Maverick suggested, Owyn was clearly surprised by this, till this moment he hadn't seen Maverick up-close, at first glance he can see the resemblance he had with James, the eyes and hair color, of course the rest he gets it of his mother, an outstanding woman who deserved to see his son grow up and see her dream come true, but people hardly get what they want these days.

"We don't have enough people to launch such an assault" Owyn reminded, looking at the map and the amount of bases and outposts around.

"Then we pick them up one by one" Sarah said, "No, too risky, unless…" Maverick said, rubbing his jaw in contemplation, "What you guys know about the blitzkrieg?" he asked.

"A pre-war method of offensive, it focused on massive assaults combining air and land mechanized offensive, basically going all out and crushing any resistance, being faster than your opponent, not letting them have a moment to breathe" Owyn stated.

"Exactly, it worked, to an extent, problem was that used too often, the enemy gets to know it and how to counter it, predetermined defensive points, strong ones, something the Enclave lacks" Maverick stated, "The communication arrays are our first targets, they must be on high points, or inside damaged houses, places that can be both easy to protect and easy to hide at plain sight" he added.

"Indeed, problem is we don't have mechanized forces" Owyn said, "Yes you do, Power Armors were originally designed as walking tanks, with the proper tweaks and proper weapons they can be so, also you have vertibirds, which I hope are armed, besides we have that" Maverick said, pointing at Liberty Prime.

"Maverick knows people dad, the girl that helped him create the Boomstick helped us escape, certified genius, can crack onto the most encrypted computers in no time, she in fact is the reason we turned the Enclave's orbital platform on them" Sarah said, Owyn by his part stared at his daughter with some caution, he knew what she was suggesting, question was the rest would accept it?

"I know also no one will trust Maverick, even if he is allied with us, so here's the deal, today, Paradise Falls at the hands of one of their main buyers"

The look of Elder Lyons was simply priceless, and in a way he understood her plan and the message she wanted to relay with this.

It was time to fight back, and they would start by crippling the Vault Dwellers main source of people.

Paradise Falls would indeed burn today.

* * *

><p>Changing the gauzes that covered her body was as painful as the burns that had caused her to wear them in the first place, yet this had to happen, her wounds were still fresh, it would take time, a lot of time before her skin would properly heal and scar, if it ever healed to begin with, even the Enclave's advanced medical technology couldn't help her much, it helped to ease the pain, before they came removing her gauzes was just plain torture, sometimes some stray wind would blow and she would cry in pain, the smallest breeze would cause her unbearable pain, at least with the sedatives she would come out of the Vault, but it had the side-effect of numbing her, making her basically immune to pain.<p>

Rubbing her bandaged hands, Christine stared at her room, then at the gun near her nightstand, it had been a gift of her father John after they lost their mother, Monica was still shaken by that event, and didn't helped that Vault's 101 black sheep had returned.

Susie had been shaken to the core when Amata had reported the death of her brother Wally, not only that, the group that had been with her had been reduced to half its original number, Jackie had escaped, all thanks to Maverick, and he had not only killed Wally, but also he had killed Paul Jr. these loses had aftershocks everywhere in the vault, not only because Maverick was the reason those two died, but because Amata fought him, and lost.

Butch had been present the moment Maverick was about to finish Amata off, according to Butch, Maverick was changed, not personality wise, but body wise, stronger than anything around, bulletproof skin, with the DIAMOND implant on his hardened skin and to boot fast and as usual, fast learning and high morals.

Anyone would blame that to his dad, the man had made sure that Maverick was never exposed to the grey morality of Alphonse and several adults, whenever the end justified the means, whenever it was good or bad; the black and white view of the world was dead before the bombs fell.

"Dear, you got a mission" her father suddenly said, entering her room, seeing her examining her pistol, a simple 9mm pistol, a simple gun that had lack of ammo in the Capital Wasteland, but no one could deny its incredible accuracy, surpassing the 10mm and even a plasma pistol, there was still nothing that could match the accuracy of a laser pistol, especially with the lack of recoil.

"Cat?" her father asked her, using her pet name, "Dad…can we really win this?" she asked, looking at the handgun on her bandaged hands, "The brotherhood was one thing, but can we actually win with Maverick now on their side?" she asked.

"Don't say that" he snapped, looking at his daughter worriedly, "That boy was nothing but trouble the moment he came here" he added.

"You all lied to us, I wonder why there wasn't a rebellion" she wondered out loud, "Because you all were smarter than that, unlike him" John said.

"If he wasn't that smart, then how the hell he was able to turn the Orbital Platform against Raven's Rock?" she simply asked, "His message was not someone boasting" she added as she stood up, "It is of someone who is very confident of what he is doing" she simply stated as she reached for her pockets, pulling a simple clip for her handgun, and loading the gun.

"I will be surprised if he doesn't comes here…after all this is his home, regardless of what he has done in the past, everyone returns home at one point" she added, holstering her gun and turning to her father.

"I know my mission already, usual run to Paradise Falls, three males, five females, and two children, nothing new" she added bored as she walked away.

John simply stared at the back of her daughter, and sighed, all was Maverick's and James's fault.

Once the Enclave is done with them, Vault 101 would begin their torture.

* * *

><p>"Okay Maverick let's run it again!" Sarah screamed, exiting alongside Maverick the labs and heading straight into the courtyard, there a lone vertibird with the emblem of the brotherhood of steel waited.<p>

"Your mission is simple! The vertibird will get you close to Paradise Falls, then drop you, once close all you need to do is slaughter them all and let God sort them out!" Sarah stated, "You decide how, you can go there silent and put a smile on their necks or smear their remains on the ground, in any case I don't care, just get it done" she stated, Maverick just gave Sarah a grim look, now he understood why she was sentinel, you had to be the meanest, most fierce warrior to attain such rank, not only that, she had come up with a plan in less than an hour.

"You're going solo, so no you don't get backup, neither you get the boomstick, too big to use on such place, you'll use your trench knife and That Gun, alongside any gun you come across" Sarah said, stopping in front of Maverick and handing him a backpack.

"This backpack contains specially crafted explosives, tactical demolition semi-nuclear charges" she said, pulling one of the charges out, to Maverick it looked like a metallic lunchbox sealed up and with a sensor placed on the top.

"The soldiers call it Nuka charges, the outside might not be catchy, but the inside is what truly matters, turpentine and soda fluid mixed with Abraxo Cleaner holds an isotope found only on a special drink, Nuka-cola Quantum, won't bore you with details, suffice to say this thing will make all your problems vanish in a refreshing semi-nuclear cloud of soda, we use this one to blow shit apart" she said, packing the Nuka Charge and handing the backpack to Maverick.

"You got a dozen of them and a detonator for all of them, turn on the sensor on the charge and place, then use the detonator in the backpack to activate them all, do so after you rescue the slaves, your secondary objective" Sarah said, "If you happen to come across one man called Eulogy Jones kill him, we have a hit order on him, slaver leader, dark skin, dressed in sharp clothes and accompanied by two crazy whores, you'll recognize him easily" Maverick nodded at this.

"Remember, once you complete this the vertibird will pick you up, good luck and steel be with you" she said as she stepped away, "Uh…metal be with you too?" he half-said, half-asked, making Sarah blink.

"…Right" she slowly said, looking at Maverick and how he entered the Vertibird, the doors of this one closing once he stepped inside.

"That's a bad idea whenever you look at it" Sarah rolled her eyes, turning her eyes to stare at the woman who didn't had the courage to stare at the son of the man she once loved from afar, and whose massive purifier was just a reminder of the things lost.

"Says the woman who didn't have the courage to face the boy she helped deliver…Cross told me the story" Sarah stated, seeing how the vertibird ascended with its only passenger on board.

"He didn't come looking for me" Madison Li stated sourly, "Because I kept him preoccupied with other things, asking him this and that, and seeing his unnatural ability to drink Vodka like water" Sarah stated, "He would have come looking for you, I assure you, but I had this feeling that you would berate him for looking for his dad, he has a surprising short fuse regarding his family, worse come to worse, you would be dead, how? I wager a broken neck, a broken spine, a broken skull, or his usual ripping his opponent's arms off and bashing them to death with them" Sarah said, much to Li's shock.

"He what?" Li asked, there Sarah sighed and looked at Li straight in the eyes, "Things…were done to us where we were held, some were minor, others major, Maverick got alive of it out of a sheer miracle, his spine was replaced by a mechanical one, he has robots on his bloodstream, and he is bulletproof, and that just scratching the surface" Sarah said, turning away.

"Ready your gear Doctor Li, after he comes back I will try to convince him to bring a mutual friend to fix Prime's IFF" Sarah stated, turning around, "Fix-do you really know someone who can do that?" Li asked, "Of course, who you think made the Boomstick? It wasn't me that's for sure" Sarah added off-handy, suddenly stopping and looking at Madison.

"You don't know where Maverick's father is don't you?"

"He came to me of course, asking for help, to restart the project, I told him flatly no, without proof I couldn't lend him the science team he needed, not that I have one anyway, most of them stayed in Rivet City after I left…and now" Madison trailed off.

"I know" Sarah sympathized with Madison's pain, she had also lost too many people that day, "In any case he said he would return with proof, he just needed to find this guy, Stanislaus Braun" Sarah furrowed her brow at that.

"What he meant by that?" Sarah asked, "Don't know, all he said besides that was that he was on a vault, and he would find it" Madison said, "The name does ring a bell, but I never bothered to check it out" Madison said, "Maybe you should, we got databases dating from before the war, maybe there is something detailing this Braun guy in there, if it is on a vault, maybe he is listed in one of them" Sarah stated.

"We can rule 101 out, if James didn't found him or any data that helped him there, then it must be outside, that's the only reason he would leave the vault and his son behind, to end what he started" Madison mussed, looking at the sky and the already grey dot that was the Vertibird, far away.

* * *

><p>Amata kept a steady gaze as Christine's vertibird took off, she had arrived just in time to see the burned woman board the vertibird and leave to Paradise Falls for some buyout, after what happened and the lost of so many people, some new blood would do good.<p>

Amata groaned in slight pain, bringing her hand to her head and gritting her teeth, "Dammit not again" she hissed, shaking her head she made her way towards the vault door, ignoring the guard around it, ignoring the residents as she made her way to the atrium, ignoring the little children that ran around, eventually she made her way to her room, there she headed straight to her cabinet, opening the drawer she pulled a small container, opening the lid near her mouth she let a single red pill go down her mouth.

The effect was instantaneous; her headache subsided, becoming now a slight throbbing by someone hitting you rather than someone trying to drive a screwdriver up to your brain.

"I need more" she mussed to herself, every time she didn't take her medicine she would have flashbacks of the day Maverick escaped, the day she found her boyfriend's body, just meters away of Maverick's room after his escape, why she didn't saw him when she woke Maverick was beyond her…

Sitting on her bed, she let the medicine take full effect, she had to tell her father that she was running low on her medicine.

She started using the medicine after a week Maverick left Vault 101, apparently the death of her boyfriend and helping the murderer of her boyfriend escape had left her in shock, when the Enclave arrived she was on coma, it was at that moment the Enclave gave her the medicine that allowed her to recover consciousness, the side-effect of course was that now she was dependant of it, if she didn't take her medicine she would slip again into a coma, and it would be hard to break her of it again.

As the medicine took effect, she began to wonder now how to deal with the problem of Maverick, she was still sore of her last encounter with him, she admits he is strong, far too strong to take down alone, too sturdy, as the bullets that bounced off him can attest to, conventional weaponry and non-conventional weaponry would do little that annoy him, CQC was the only solution that she could come up to face him, but the fact remained that even with a Power Armor, he was too much to handle, trained soldiers lasted too little against him.

Of course the team she selected would do things nice, all vault dwellers, all had ties to Maverick in one way or the other, all knew him, all would struck a chord on Maverick's psyche, he was, even after all the experiments the aliens did to him, human, and a human is prone to make mistakes, she was hoping for him to make a mistake, just one.

Also she took in consideration the fact he has allies in the form of Sarah Lyons and the little brat that helped those people escape, the small super-genius was someone that she would have to keep an eye on, or kill, while Maverick was brawn taken to the extreme, the little girl was brains up to max, a genius that not even the brightest minds of this or the last era could hope to match.

There had to be a way to stop the seemingly unstoppable Maverick dead on his tracks, it had to be a way, he couldn't be unstoppable?

Shaking her head, and knowing that perhaps the only way to deal with Maverick was with the heaviest weapon she could find, miniguns, Missile Launchers, RPG's and a Fat Man down his throat, she stood up and made her way to her father's office.

Upon arrival however, she found herself staring at the barrel of a handgun, gripped by her panicking father, "Oh…it's you" he said with a relieved tone, Amata blinked owlish, then remembered that her father, besides her, had it worse when Maverick escaped Vault 101, he got beaten to an inch of his life, with a baseball bat, she figured that hearing the voice of the man who left him a month on a bed, in extreme pain was going to be traumatic.

Lowering his gun, Alphonse sends his daughter small apologizing look, then shakes his head, toying with the gun on his hand, "He is out there, but he will return, he will" Alphonse said, "And I will be ready"

"With that thing? Dad, I put two bullets on him, they bounced off his skin, you'll need something with a little extra to actually made him stagger" she confessed, and was distraught when she saw his dad blanch at that information.

"And yet you want me to let you take ten of the most promising people outside to hunt him…knowing full well he can kill you all without even sweating?" he asked, her answer was a simple nod.

"He will not kill us"

"Like he didn't kill Wally's brother, Amata, dear, please reconsider, let the Enclave deal with him, they have trained soldiers" he pleaded, Amata juts grew angry at that.

"No…NO!" she exclaimed hotly, "It was my mistake helping Maverick, MINE! He will die by my hand! Now approve the list and be done with it!" Alphonse narrowed his eyes at his daughter, just because she had a Power Armor on and was the Enclave's main asset didn't meant she could be like this.

Then again, he had forced her into that position and attitude, "I'll gather them, but you have to brief them of what they are going to face, I will not have their families asking me about their dead children, I'll have to talk with them too…ugh what a mess"

Amata snorted at that, everyone, even the children knew what entailed if they failed, if the Enclave fell, so would they, many enemies were made, and would take a chance of getting even with the vault dwellers, especially after all the atrocities they had committed.

Alphonse will be the first to admit that all the atrocities they had done were bad, but necessary, their home was dying, they needed new blood, the Enclave provided the new blood, but at a cost.

Sometimes he wondered if the cost had been too much, especially after seeing how his daughter had turned into some sort of blood carving machine of death.

He really hoped that Maverick was such an obstacle like they were being seen to believe.

* * *

><p>"So…you're the rouge" more like a statement than a question, came the words of one of the pilots of the vertibird that was transporting Maverick to Paradise Falls, Maverick of course didn't say much, just nodding his head.<p>

"Nice, heard your speech over the radio, nice way to rile people up, looking forward to see what you got planed to Paradise Falls" the pilot said, "Enough cadet, this is not a sanctioned mission by the elder" the other pilot, apparently the senior of the man talking to Maverick, snapped at the younger pilot.

"Who cares, we are at war, it is obvious we have to run some black ops mission once in a while, Gallows does it all the time" the younger pilot stated, "I swear runt, if you weren't such a good pilot" the senior muttered out loud.

"So what I have to expect inside Paradise Falls, Sarah was a little vague on that" Maverick piped in, not wanting to hear the rest the man could say, "Hell man, pure hell, slavers left and right, armed to bear, slaves are hold up on a underground pen made before the war here, so you'll have to enter the buildings and look underground for the pen, but that's not all" the younger pilot began.

"The place is crawling also with Enclave forces, alongside Talon mercs, is a beehive, one you seem eager to poke and anger" the senior pilot said, "No matter what don't let them hit you with the Mesmetron, one hit and it's game over man, enslaved or your head pops like a balloon"

"So I heard" Maverick said, slowly standing up and making his way to the cockpit, glancing at the exterior and how fast the scenery was changing, which was not much considering the whole landscape was dust and ash.

"The place is a loot paradise, it has a lot of food, medicine and guns and ammo to lot, so please can you bring something for us, for giving you this ride?"

"Sure" Maverick said, spotting at the horizon what seemed a massive kid made out of ceramic and plastic, holding a massive ice cone on one hand, "There it is, Paradise Falls, home of the depraved and sick, hope you brought something bigger than a pistol" the senior pilot said.

"I got more than enough firepower in me" Maverick said, noticing how they began to land, "Why are we landing here? I thought you would land me near Paradise Falls?" Maverick asked.

"This is as far we can go without alerting sentries and their RPG units, now come here, we need to hide the bird" the senior pilot said, following him, Maverick found himself surprised when he saw the two pilots pull what seemed a massive blanket that seemed colored to match the wasteland's ground, "I landed us on a small hole, we place this on top of the vertibird and we can be safely hidden, now grab that extreme" the senior commanded, within minutes they had set the cover on top of the vertibird.

"Okay, scouts reported a Vertibird coming out of the location of 101, so assume we got vaulties inside Paradise Falls" The senior pilot stated, "Must be buying slaves" the junior pilot stated, Maverick felt physically ill at hearing this, this was the last straw to him, buying humans like if they were cattle, killing them like cattle, it was beyond his understanding, and he realized the people he knew and grew up with had changed for the worse, and he had a hand in it.

"Damn it all to hell" Maverick whispered to himself, then sighed, "Okay guys, stay here, I'll go and free the slaves and then blow this place sky high" Maverick said, pulling That Gun.

"Hey kid" the senior pilot suddenly said, stopping Maverick from going a little forward, "Yeah?"

"Good luck, and oh don't forget this" the senior pilot said, handing Maverick what seemed a military walkie-talkie, "Two way radio, call us when you free the slaves so we can be ready to move them out" was all he said as Maverick began to make his way towards the entrance of Paradise Falls at a fast pace.

"Damn, looks like a Deathclaw running"

* * *

><p>To enter Paradise Falls, you had to either walk or fly, most of the slavers and guards of Paradise Falls chose to walk, mostly because vehicles such as automobiles or trucks were either too damaged to use, or the roads connecting to their destination could only be crossed by foot.<p>

To Enclave, air was the way to go, in the early days or their rise and sudden striking of deals with Eulogy Jones, Paradise Falls current leader, since they had a demand of human subjects for highly deadly experiments, most of them weaponry experiments they couldn't do with their own, slave buying became the way to go.

To the Vault Dwellers it was another matter entirely, while Enclave paid with weapons, hi-tech weapons and provided guards for the town, Vault 101 began providing water, pure water to pay up for their slaves, mostly women and children, Vault 101 had a great amount of males, even before Maverick and James arrival 19 years ago, and of course the problem became that there were lacking women, also alongside with fresh gene pool, thus children, most children came of the ravaged Little Lamplight, and many, if not all have already been sold to Vault 101, considering that many of them lived on a cave, living on Vault 101 wouldn't be much of a change, just a cleaner, safer environment.

Christine had been a regular among slave buying, ever since she was given clean bill to exit Vault 101 and see the sun for the first time by herself, she reminded herself that Maverick had been the first of their class to leave the vault and gaze on the sun and the ruins that had been once the Capital of the United States, and, unknown to them, it had become some sort of tradition, gazing for the first time at everything, a tradition, they hate to admit, Maverick had started.

The 'burned woman' as she was called among the slavers of Paradise Falls made her way towards the former spot of the slaves pens, with a lot of tech coming to them, they were able to expand the once small settlement, now the town of roughly fifty-five slavers, 3 Enclave guards and a dozen of Talon mercs, not counting the two medics, the trader, the bartender and the two hunter and 'chefs' Paradise Falls had become the largest settlement in the Capital Wasteland, gaining the title after the destruction of Rivet City, of course Rivet City had more space to offer, Paradise Falls had too many damaged buildings, and most of the important transactions were held on the underground parking lot that was opened with some C4.

The Vertibird, parked neatly on the secondary entrance to Paradise Falls, was already outfitted to set the new arrivals, no one could see her face, and it was good, because anyone would have seen the disgusted look she had.

She wasn't the only one that felt disgusted how things had turned out, how they had become, of course it was easy to pin all blame on James and his son, the easy way, the right thing to do was to take responsibility for their actions, but they were taught very early by the Enclave that the right way died 200 years ago, now the easy way was the only way to do things.

Slavers and mercs alike gave her appraising looks, they knew that a woman lay within all those bandages, and most of them didn't care if she was horribly burned, considering that the closest thing near a burned woman was a female ghoul, and no one does ghouls due to the myth they are actually dead and that would be like doing a corpse.

Christine shook her head at that, she had seen ghouls up-close, both rational and irrational, and she had to admit, she is far prettier than them, her skin was burned, their bodies was basically rotting out, puss and other things she swore only saw in corpses oozing out of their exposed skin.

Shaking her head, Christine made her way towards the building that held the entrance to the underground pens, two enclave troopers behind her, holding two crates of water each.

Once she was inside, three minutes later, all went to hell, not that she realized until she got out.

* * *

><p>Killing the two guards had been easy, activating stealth mode while running, a knife in one hand, he had cleanly decapitated the first guard with such ease, the trench knife wasn't so lucky as the guard, the knife blade snapped, leaving him with just the knuckle duster to dispose the second guard, something he did by slamming the knuckle duster on the man's face, still invisible, the poor bastard never knew what killed him in the first place.<p>

From there his trek had been rather straight forward, while the two guards where heavily armored to dissuade anyone to try and storm the place up front, this didn't stop Maverick at all, a Minigun and a shotgun do little to scare him after seeing Super Mutants and Deathclaws.

The road was clearly marked, flanked by the remains of the cars once parked there, obviously moved by the current residents, if he looked around he could see several skeletons lying around, some of them were blackened, and obviously dated before Paradise Falls was taken by slavers, others held their milky white color, but lacked their heads up to their necks, meaning these ones were mostly fresh ones, picked off their flesh by the vultures and left to the sun to burn even more.

Those bones obviously belonged to those who tried to escape Paradise Falls, but nothing could explain the lack of a head and neck, maybe decapitation, but to that level?

Then he noted that one of the corpses had a similar collar like the one he removed to one of the tunnelers, he knew these collars could cleanly decapitate a person when activated, a controlled explosion with shrapnel shot as supersonic speed, shredding flesh and bone with ease, which might explain the lack of a neck, as the bones are basically turned to less than dust, it also helps that is shot at point-blank.

Maverick gave the bones pitying looks, then focused on his task, with a firm step he kept following the road, there he found, much to his shock a parked vertibird, he tensed up of course, but he was invisible, if there was someone around, then he would notice them, not the other way around.

Out of curiosity he peeked inside the vertibird, seeing no one inside, surely the pilots and cargo were inside Paradise Falls, with a small smile he made his way to the end of the road, a wall of over ten meters tall with a double door, the real entrance to Paradise Falls.

Now the question was how to enter?

Rubbing his chin, Maverick suddenly had an idea, one that was not entirely complicated.

Shock and awe tactics were often used during the Chinese-American war and pretty much any other war were gunpowder was used, the fact was simple, the bigger the weapon, the bigger the boom, make rain dead, hot, blistering, thunderous and loud dead on your opponents, those who survived would be too scared to even attack.

And he had just the perfect tool for it, reaching for his backpack, Maverick pulled one of the Nuka charges and the detonator, closing the back he activated the first charge and held it by the handle, then narrowed his eyes, he was going to launch the charge blindly, he could end up killing a slave instead of a slaver, which was bad on his book, on the other hand this was the perfect way to enter without them noticing and catching them all off-guard.

"Okay, God please guide this charge onto some bad guy's head" Maverick whispered, easily tossing the charge over the wall, and calculating the time the charge would hit the ground, he waited, and waited a little more, then he pressed the button of the detonator.

**BOOM!**

The moment he heard the screams was his cue to storm inside, pushing the doors open, Maverick advanced, still on stealth mode.

* * *

><p>Christine never liked the underground pens, they were devoid of life, the smell shot her always back to the moment her skin burned, the smell of liquor also reminded her of the furious attempts of her father to save her life, after all alcohol was a disinfectant, and was used on her skin, the smell reminded her how much it hurt.<p>

Then the room shook and the two guards within the pens, alongside her and the two Enclave soldiers looked up, seeing how the lamps moved according with the explosion that, while was muffled by the ceiling and walls, was still strong enough to be heard, that worried Christine.

"Do not worry" her host, Eulogy Jones, the man in charge of the sells and buyouts of slaves in the Capital Wasteland ever since the Pitt was confirmed to be destroyed, said to her, at his side, as usual, his two personal bodyguards/slaves, Crimson and Clover, both wearing the same pink dress, the slave collar and the two Chinese swords, attached to their hips.

She knew these two girls, their story, captured even before Maverick's escape, at least two months before, broken shells of what they used to be, apparently, according to Eulogy, the girls were usually on fights for his affection, that ended however two months after Maverick vanished, apparently, from the face of the Capital Wasteland, Eulogy was finally able to mentally break them, erasing any kind of trace of what they used to be, before and after, now they were submissive, to him and only him, they spoke when he ordered them to, attacked when he ordered him to, they were less than attack dogs, they were whores, degrading the female image, Amata agreed, and every girl in Vault 101 hoped that Crimson and Clover were put down.

"It must be the remnants of the Regulators, they always get past the two guards, but never beyond the doors" he added, Christine knew also of the Regulators, led by one Sonora Cruz, these cowboy style men and women hunted raiders and slavers all over the wasteland, no mercy given or asked, always taking the index finger of their targets as proof of their demises, something that hasn't diminished even when their base in the Capital Wasteland was attacked by Talon Mercs and slavers of Paradise Falls, it had been a bloodbath for both sides she had been told, but Sonora Cruz, the target of that attack hadn't been found.

Christine shook her head, anyone was crazy to attack Paradise Falls, and especially with the heavy slaver/mercenary presence inside, it was the hub of slaver operations and a 'port in the storm' for Talon Mercs, a small city that had boomed once the war had kicked in high.

Yet the shots, explosions and yells didn't seem to diminish at all, if else they got louder, and more frantic.

"You two" Christine said, turning to the two Enclave soldiers, "Go outside and assist those incompetent fools, God knows they need all the help they can get" she stated loud enough for the guards of the pens to hear, the soldiers chuckled naturally as the tugged away, after all trained soldiers were more that a match against anything the Capital Wasteland average raider and trigger happy merc and slaver could offer, and everyone knew that.

Eulogy didn't seem to mind, after all Vault 101 was one of his main buyers, and after caps, food and water, especially purified water was something valuable, even more in large quantities.

The transaction for the next five minutes went cleanly, albeit with its hitches because of the continued racked outside, and of course because Eulogy had to count the water bottles and the guards had the not so graceful task of actually picking the slaves that Christine believed were fit for life in Vault 101, besides there was no much to choose off to begin with, the exact number of slaves needed in 101 were the exact number present in the pens, with the exception of two kids and a ghoul.

After she was done, oddly enough to racked did too, it was a relief to Christine, she didn't want to spend more than the allowed time in the pens, the guards had to escort her and the slaves outside because the soldiers she send didn't returned.

The trip was uneventful truth to be told, most of the slaves were in jails, not improvised pens, why the hell Paradise Falls, a former mall had jails underneath was beyond her, maybe the Shino-American war and all that communist paranoia for one perhaps.

Shaking those thoughts aside, Christine opened the door that connected the exterior to the underground pens-

"GYYAAAHH!" and squealed like a little girl of ten years old seeing a radroach for the first time when she saw the headless corpse of one of the Enclave soldiers she send outside emerge of the other side, falling to her feet with a loud metallic 'thump'

Christine eyes were wide behind her bandaged face, she looked then up, right at Paradise Falls square, and felt fear, cold fear for the first time ever since she saw her sister about to be consumed in the fires on her room.

What used to be a square full of mercs and slaves, once alive, were now dead, they all had looks of horror, pain and a little bit of both on their faces, their bodies were riddle with gunshot wounds, upon looking even further, Christine saw, with horror that the now deceased had fired at _each other, _not at something, at them!

"_That can't be right! They turned on each other!"_ she thought with some shock, looking around she saw the body of the second Enclave soldier, this one had, much to her shock and confusion, a hole of the size of a fist, right where his heart was, the armor seemed it did little to nothing to stop the attack that had caused the mortal wound.

She also noted that some of the slavers, while they didn't had the bizarre fist size holes on their chests or their bodies riled up with bullets or shotgun pellets, their necks were twisted, contorted in such a way that it was not natural.

She immediately related this killing to the one the stealth boys used, tribals and wastelanders were superstitious folks, they once believed that Deathclaws were vengeful spirits of the past, this was used by Butch's elites to take down small towns and camps with efficiency, after all Stealth Boys were not widely used due to their rarity and the need to recharge them, and Vaults were one of the few locations that had the energy to do so.

Her eyes darted around, not believing what was before her, this was simply not possible, even the Stealth Boy units were susceptible to getting shot, either by sheer luck or by someone's keen eyesight, she couldn't believe that whoever did this didn't come out unharmed.

"Who the fuck!" her musings were cut short as she saw Eulogy burst past her, Crimson and Clover joining him along the way, Christine saw how the man looked around in utter shock, basically staring how his slavery empire was destroyed, his men dead, horribly she might add.

"Who did it? WHO DID IT!" Eulogy screamed, asking to the win, daring to someone to answer.

"You Eulogy Jones?" And apparently he got his answer, Christine was frozen in shock, the voice she hadn't heard for a long time, hearing it recently on radio after the attack to Raven's Rock.

Eulogy didn't seem to actually remember the voice; he kept looking around like a rabid dog, waiting to see something to lunge at.

"You fucker I'll hang your head on the entrance of MY city!" Eulogy snarled, pulling a single revolver out of his expensive looking red jacket.

The next thing Christine knows is that a metallic disk flies to Eulogy at great speed, then passes Eulogy's neck, sticking itself on a wall, there she saw that the metallic disk was in fact a circular saw, morbid curiosity made her turn and see how Eulogy took three steps forward, the movement causing his head to fall out of his neck, and then his body followed suit.

"I'll take that as a yes" Christine began to shake, she knew Maverick was changed, but she never imagined he was this changed, he had been a pacifist back in the Vault, but when push came to shove he was the kind of guy you wanted on your side.

"Fuck!" one of the guards screamed, actually running forward, "Is the spirit of Lincoln!" the man screamed, Christine had seen and heard a lot of crazy things, but to hear of a slaver that the spirit of the great emancipator had caused this slaughter was just plain crazy.

Whatever she was going to say ended when something blurred in front of the running man, making him turn and actually began to fire, she and the slaves ducked out of survival instinct, but Crimson wasn't so lucky, his crazy shooting ended up on her chest, dropping her to the ground, dead.

The man was unable to say something else when Clover pulled her sword and sliced the man's neck open, the slaver gurgled and tried to keep blood out of the wound, but it didn't help at all, he was fighting a losing fight.

The next to die was the other guard, Christine was just standing up after seeing the insane guard being killed by Clover just to jump in fright when a shot ran near her, followed by blood and bones, she didn't need to look to know that the other guard had his head blown apart.

Clover was the last one around, looking wildly, Christine was the last thing Clover saw as something grabbed her chin, and Christine saw some invisible force make Clover's neck snap in a 180° degree angle.

As the woman dropped dead, a body began to materialize, Christine drew a sharp breath as she saw the form take shape, and her worse fears were confirmed.

"Hello Christine, let me be the first person to tell you honestly…you look like shit" Maverick stated, the burned woman looked at Maverick, clad all black, like some sort of post-apocalyptic Grim Reaper, he had caused all this, he alone had killed every slaver in Paradise Falls, and by the looks of it, he didn't get shot while causing the massacre.

Christine forced herself to stand up, pulling her 9mm and aiming it at Maverick, he did the same with That Gun, "You…how the hell?" she asked, it was not an exact question, just asking by the kicks of it, she wanted to ask so many questions, but her brain was frozen on the order of aim and hope the other guy doesn't shoots you.

"This? It was easy, I scare them with a bomb, busted in, invisible to the naked eye, began breaking their necks one by one" he began, "Then they panicked, I just began moving out of sight and around them, crossfire was assured, they did the rest, of course the two Enclave soldiers somehow began to see me, so I killed them, painless…far more for what they deserved for working with slavers" Maverick hissed, his eyes narrowed, Christine took a deep breath, she didn't remember Maverick being so intimidating before.

"We are doing all this for the good of mankind, sacrifices are meant to be made" she said, not sure if what she said had signed her death warrant.

"Mankind? Or just Enclave kind" Maverick stated, "I have not been around too much, but I have seen and heard enough to know that you guys only help only yourselves, so spare me the propaganda" Maverick snapped, Christine was taken aback by his hostile posture against the Enclave, and she knew talking with him would buy her time, after all Maverick had always been open for conversations and peaceful resolutions.

"For the history we got Christine, I'm letting you go, just this once" Maverick said, surprising Christine and the slaves behind her, they knew Maverick was a Vault dweller thanks to his Pip-boy, but they were at a loss of what to think of this man that while looks like a dweller, is not acting like one.

Christine by her part didn't know what to think, he was letting her go, just like that? She wasn't buying it; she needed to buy more time, time for the slaver behind Maverick, moving slowly and with a sledgehammer in hand to strike Maverick, enough time to place a shot at him.

"Awfully peaceful considering the carnage you caused" she remarked.

"Don't think too much of it Christine, I want to put a bullet in your head for buying slaves, they are human beings dammit, not objects you can buy, there are children in there too dammit, has the Enclave twisted you all you chose to be like this?" Maverick asked, ire was palpable on his voice, and she could feel it.

"We had to, you and your father-"

"Don't you dare Christine! Alphonse went over the line, he ordered the guards to shoot anyone, you hear me? ANYONE outside their quarters! The Holden's were shot in front of me, just because they wanted out! All those deaths, all that pointless chaos, the fires, everything could have been prevented if Alphonse had acted like a leader instead of a frightened child that is about to lose his favorite toy!" Maverick snapped, Christine was sure, he was as changed as the rest of the generation he had grew with, her included, yet she knew he was somewhat right, all that chaos, the fires…her mother, all could have been prevented if the guards had acted according as they had to, protecting the people inside the vault, not the vault, but also all that chaos had started the moment Maverick and his dad escaped, the guilt was shared.

"For what is worth…I'm sorry about your mother, Amata told me…I'm glad Monica made it, but it still doesn't justify what you all are becoming…raiders I think is the word" Maverick stated.

"Raiders? Don't compare us to those junkies, they are so drugged and crazy that they think going against an Enclave soldiers with a kitchen knife is a good idea!"

"And allying yourselves with a bunch of murdering sociopaths, slavers and blood carving mercenaries is the best idea since inner plumping?" Maverick shot back, "Face it Christine, you guys messed up big time, and unlike those times, neither me nor my father will be there to pull you out of that shithole, now you either leave by your own volition or I toss you out, either way you leave" Maverick snapped, Christine eyes narrowed at that, and also at the fact the slaver was just behind Maverick sledgehammer raised high…

It all happened so fast to her to register, one moment she is pulling the trigger, then she is flying away, seeing how Maverick easily seized the slaver by the neck, the sound of her body falling onto the ground was nothing compared to the one of a neck being crushed, not broken, crushed.

She tried to stand up and support her weight with her right arm, just to gasp when she looked at the stump that used to be her arm, her right hand and forearm, alongside two finger of her left hand and handgun had been all but blown apart, she didn't felt pain, the sedatives prevented that, but the fact remained she had lost an arm, and she couldn't felt it.

She felt like a monster.

Looking up she saw Maverick, already hovering over her prone form, she couldn't speak, just grunt as Maverick lifted her up with one hand like if she weighted nothing, then dragged her around, she didn't had the strength or the will to do something at all, she didn't knew why.

Then she felt something hard slamming to her back, and how the sun was obscured, looking around she saw that she was placed on one of the Pulowski shelters, aptly named 'the hole'

She felt herself being lifted by Maverick once more, and staring him in dead in the eyes, "I'm doing this to spare Monica more tears…God knows you and the rest don't deserve mercy, or another chance after what you have done" he snapped, she was left standing there, rooted on the spot as the chamber was closed before her and the only light source was the pip-boy screen light.

Outside, Maverick stared at the shelter with a sorrowful gaze, he didn't felt pity for the dead slavers, they deserved all he had done to them, but the dwellers, they were forced to do things, out of necessity, out of need, he didn't knew if he could do the same to the rest, Wally had died because he was stupid enough to think he would die with him, Paul Jr. had died because he didn't tolerate cowards who used kids as shields.

The only reason he didn't killed Christine was because he didn't felt like it, he could seen she had suffered enough, not only physically, but mentally, losing her mother must had been a blow like no other, he spared her just because of that, but sparring her didn't meant she would come out unharmed, her missing arm would remind her of what she had done.

Looking around she spotted the still frozen slaves, they looked at him with shock and fear, he understood it of course, in less than two minutes he had disabled their guards and had taken down a Vault Dweller.

"Listen guys…uh…uhm…" he took a deep breath, knowing he had to assert himself, "Grab whatever you can to store weapons, food and ammo, I'm going to blow this place up sky high, and you don't want to be here" Maverick stated, ready to pull out the Nuka charges, just to see the slaves still frozen on the spot.

"Uh…guys, did I just told you I have almost nuclear charges on my backpack? Which I'm going to use to blow everything up!" Maverick screamed, the slaves seemed to react to his screaming, but were still hesitant to move, it wasn't until one of them pointed the collars on their necks that Maverick realized that they couldn't leave Paradise Falls immediate area, not unless they wanted to be a head shorter.

"A computer must control those collars activation sequence and perimeter" Maverick mussed, looking around, "Eulogy's pad" a voice made him turn again to the slaves, seeing a female said that, she looked ill, well as ill a wastelander can look without washing.

"That place" she said, pointing what used to be a small theater, if Maverick was right, "He…used to sleep there" the female wastelander said, spotting the beheaded form of Eulogy, a pleased look on her dirty face, "There has to be a terminal there" she added.

"Okay then" Maverick said, looking around, "Listen, I know you guys don't trust me and all that, but I'm here to bust you out, but I can't do that with those collars and you guys not trusting me" Maverick said, looking at the slaves.

"I need your help, so we can leave okay, all of you" he said, the slaves just gave small nods, they weren't too vocal about being aided, or the slave life had taken its toll on them, Maverick didn't know.

"Okay then, first thing first, pick any weapon, ammo, food, anything you can get your hands, find bags were you can store them, fusion batteries, scrap metal, anything that can help, even new clothes if you want, strip this place of anything valuable" he added, that seemed to stir the slaves, they looked around, seeing the amount of corpses, the amount of loot.

"After I'm done with the collars and placing the explosives, we'll get out, I got some friends waiting outside, ready to pick us up" Maverick said, ready to walk to Eulogy's pad.

"What…about the dweller?" other slave said, this time a teenager asked; Maverick could see that the teen had been brutally beaten, as the bruises on his face could attest to.

Maverick gave it a good thought, Christine could get out at any moment, and the last thing he needed was the burned woman getting out and using one the slaves, perhaps one of the kids as meat shields.

Looking around he spotted a transit sign, the metal bar still attached to the sign, walking to it, Maverick yanked the sign out, then walked to the Pulowski chamber, then rammed the metal bar to one side of the chamber, the other end coming out of the door, "The fuck Maverick!" one could hear Christine curse inside the chamber.

"This should keep you inside, I don't want you outside for the time being, be a good little girl and stay put" Maverick stated, turning around, "Okay, time's a wasting, come on move it!" Maverick snapped, the slaves, upon seeing the man trap even more the vault dweller, moved at a fast pace, Maverick could see eager smile son their dirty faces, the children in particular.

Shaking his head Maverick began to do his thing, he headed straight towards the former theater, once he was inside he spotted that while the inside was greatly changed, and wondered how the hell you could find a heart shaped bed in the middle of the wasteland, it was still the insides of a small theater, a fast glance allowed him to find the terminal he was looking for, heading towards it he began to work on it, the terminal was not different from the one the Overseer had when he hacked it the first time, and while the Enclave computer he hacked had more encryptions and had taken him a time to hack, he did it, this one was like using paper to try and stop bullets.

Once inside he found the commands for the collars, immediately he deactivated them and unlocked the locks, he wasn't going to spend more time breaking them, no matter how easy it was.

With that out he reached for his backpack, putting it on the heart shaped bed and pulling two charges, the theater was big, and he had enough charges to blow Paradise Falls up to the sky, and perhaps a little higher, he placed the first charge near one of the support columns in the room, then walked around, second charge in hand, spotting a set of stairs he walked to them, or better said underneath, there he spotted what seemed two mats, and a wooden box full of glowing…was that soda?

Maverick actually blinked as he picked one of the glowing bottles, seeing that the glow was not of the bottle, but rather of the content inside, "Trippy" he muttered, and then smiled, Sally would surely love something like this, either to study or to drink.

Packing the five bottles on the backpack with care, and after finding something he thought only existed in the vault, a small vault-boy bobblehead and taking it with him, he exited the theater, seeing the slaves discarding their collars, most of them tossing them far away.

"Are there more slaves?" Maverick called to one of the slaves, "Yes, two children and a ghoul, down in the pens" the slave said, "The kid is a dirty mouthed as I have ever seen, raiders don't curse as much as him, the girl is spoiled, let's leave it like that, and the ghoul…well she looks on the verge of going feral, slavery is not kind with them ghouls" the slave said, taking a combat knife out of a holster of a dead slaver.

Maverick didn't like that prospect, he had seen both sentient ghouls and feral ghouls, one could actually discern between friend and foe, the other could only recognize other ghouls as friendly, anything else was a target.

He fastened his pace to the pens, knowing that two children and a ghoul about to crack is not a nice mixture, the road to the underground pens was rather straightforward, it seemed Paradise Falls, in the past had an underground jail, maybe for thieves who needed to be contained before the police could arrive, obviously the slavers thought that keeping the slaves in well made jails instead of bar wired fences was more secure.

Once he made it to the room, he spotted the three slaves the other one mentioned, two kids huddled on one corner of the cell, while the female ghoul was on the other end of the cell, muttering to herself, he was glad they were separated by a thin wall, but a barrier nonetheless.

The kids noticed him immediately, both were eye wide as he entered the room, and slightly tapped the lock of the cell, "I don't have time for keys" he muttered, pulling That Gun and aiming at the cell lock, the shot made the kids jump, and basically opened a hole on the lock, the cell door opened smoothly after that, the kids kept looking at Maverick like some sort of monster.

"Eh…don't worry…I come in peace" Maverick said, truth to be told he had always wanted to say that phrase, but he imagined he would use it with some outside settlers, amazed by a vault dweller, not a pair of scared children.

The children by their part moved away of the cell, going to the entrance of the pens, seeing how Maverick advanced to the other cell, That Gun in hand, ready to blast the other lock, "Don't mungo!" the boy called.

Maverick looked up at the boy who just called him…whatever the hell that meant.

"Mungo?" Maverick asked, "That doesn't matter don't open that door!" the kid stated in panic, "Uh…why not?" Maverick asked.

"That bitch is crazy, that's what!" the kid snapped, "She tried to bite my face off when we were holed on that cage with her, she is crazy mungo, just one step of becoming feral" the kid stated, Maverick simply narrowed his eyes at the kid as he kept his aim at the cell lock, "And your point is?" Maverick asked.

"You would do better to point that thing at her head" the kid replied, Maverick just narrowed his eyes at the kid, "No one gets left behind" was all Maverick said as he pulled the trigger, blowing the lock away, the kid just gave Maverick a nasty look, shaking his head, "Stupid mungo, you're going to get yourself killed" he added, the girl didn't say nothing, but the look she was giving Maverick was neither friendly nor hostile.

Maverick just shook his head, holstering That Gun and opening the cell door, "Hey, Ma'am?" Maverick asked, approaching the female ghoul huddled on the corner.

"Ma'am, we are leaving, come on, get up, the collars are off, you can take yours off" Maverick said, "Oh, so that's what happened" the girl mumbled, tugging her own collar, then taking it off with a yank, the kid doing the same.

"You're free, you can leave" Maverick added, kneeling to the level of the female ghoul that it seemed didn't acknowledge him.

"Ma'am?" Maverick asked again, this time reaching and touching the female's ghoul shoulder, whatever the slavers had done to the female had finally taken its toll on her, because the moment Maverick touched her, she snapped, the little mental stability was gone, replaced by hunger.

The ghoul turned on Maverick, tackling Maverick to the ground and started to flair her arms at him, like punches or slashes, all at a frenzy, the berserk female ghoul didn't noted that her attacks didn't do nothing to Maverick, the kids did, reason why they were rooted on spot, seeing not even a drop of blood spilled of the face of Maverick.

Then Maverick reacted, with ease he pushed the ghoul aside, hard, the fresh feral was far more resilient than the average feral ghoul, so pushing her to a wall didn't kill her, unlike other ferals, but it stunned her.

Standing up, Maverick easily grabbed the still crazy female ghoul by the neck when she tried to attack again, lifting her up in the air, then slamming her to the ground, hard, this time the blow did kill her, as the floor cracked, so did every bone on the ghouls back, and skull, not to mention the pressure Maverick added to the neck, breaking it.

The kids stared with utter shock how Maverick stood up, looking with a sad look at the female ghoul, the reaching for her eyes, and closing them, "Rest, you are in a better place now" he added, turning to the kids, as he advanced the kids felt utterly afraid, but that fear slightly vanished when he simply grabbed their shoulders and turned them away.

"Let's go, time's a wasting" Maverick stated, not glancing at the dead ghoul, but stopping to place a Nuka charge on the cells, "Told you" the kid stated, adding "Fucking mungo" in a whisper, one Maverick heard.

"What in God's name is a mungo!"

* * *

><p>"She's taking too long" John Kendall moaned out, usually a buyout would take ten minutes, fifteen give it or take, vertibirds allowed fast transportation without delay and obstacles such as broken roads, raiders of wasteland creatures.<p>

Yet this was taking too much, she should had come about fifteen minutes ago, and scouts had reported an brotherhood vertibird flying also to Paradise Falls, while the brotherhood didn't had the means to reproduce vertibirds en mass, they had the means, just like the Enclave, to fuel them, these models used fusion powered engines, fusion batteries worked fine to help fly the vertibirds, Microfusion cells also worked, even more, but considering that the MF cells were used for the laser rifles and plasma rifles, no one wanted to use them, or waste them.

"Anything?" John asked to one of the only comm. Operator inside Vault 101, a teenager, born and raised in the Enclave, she was pretty, her name, and nickname was Madonna, with her long blonde hair and stunning blue eyes, she was eye catch to many men, and some women, and her body was nothing short of stunning.

"Nothing sir, no outpost has seen another vertibird take off" Madonna stated, rubbing her eyes, truth to be told the girl had seen more action in the past day than the last month, with Raven's Rock attack, the return of Sarah Lyons and Maverick, things had gone hectic, orders to capture Maverick, transfers, more orders, a logistical nightmare.

But nothing could be compared to this, a signal, any signal of Christine's vertibird.

Then it came, Madonna was already hearing over her headsets whatever what was being relayed to her by the scouts, if she couldn't get a clear fix of Christine's vertibird, then they would go to her last know location, Paradise Falls.

John waited with expectation anything of Madonna, a sign, anything, what he got made him dread and despair, then break when she spoke.

"Paradise Falls…is gone?"

* * *

><p>Seeing that vertibird arrive, truth to be told, had been one of the most incredible experiences Sarah had ever experimented.<p>

Seeing TWO vertibirds come had been utter surprise, if Maverick wanted to surprise her and butter even more his status as the black sheep of Vault 101 and not with the Enclave at all, bringing one of their rides was definitely the way to go.

The moment those two birds landed, and a bunch of slaves, carrying bags full of food, ammo, guns in hands, without slave collars, and wearing disbelieving looks, even more when Maverick joined them told her all she needed, the slaves didn't believe he would help them, yet here they were, on the Citadel, safe, alive, pretty much away of any slaver, not that many remained alive, Sarah thought with a smirk.

"Told ya he would" she said loud enough for many knights and paladins to hear her, many were actually shaking their heads, trying to get the fact a vault dweller had actually done something beneficial for the cause against the Enclave.

As she marched, she noted the small number of children with Maverick, with two vertibirds, the chances of transporting more slaves was increased, the fact there was two pilots accompanying Maverick before was purely coincidence.

It bothered her of course the small number of slaves, either this was all Paradise Falls had when Maverick arrived, or some slaves had got killed during the escape, by their looks it seemed the first, none of them had gunshot wounds, or any kind of wound that could be related to an assault, besides punches.

"Sarah" Maverick called, marching to her, she could see the backpack she had given him was full, of what she didn't know, of course it wasn't of the charges, maybe he found some toys back in Paradise Falls, even if the nuclear Armageddon came, one thing remain true, men like big toys.

"Mission accomplished, also Eulogy Jones is dead" Maverick added to Sarah, the sentinel let out a smirk play her lips, the slave trader Eulogy Jones had been a pain for the brotherhood and a nightmare for many wastelanders, in her mental check-list, he was the first of many to go away.

She knew this dead would not go unpunished by the Enclave, or the fact one of their main sources of lab rats was gone, location included, she expected retaliation by this attack, they would surely come in force against the Citadel, and they had to be ready for this.

"Maverick, call Sally, we need her now" Sarah stated, Maverick by his part looked at the sentinel with something akin to understanding and helplessness, she knew he didn't want to involve the little girl in this conflict, hell if she had her way, they would start picking every wastelander, one by one, taking them to the mothership, then after all they were gone, they would use the guns of the ship to lay hell from heaven against the Capital Wasteland and those remaining, Enclave and raiders.

Yet that would not happen, the Capital Wasteland was her home now, Maverick's father was still around, and so did Project Purity, if they could turn the tide of the war to their favor, then after victory they would use Project Purity to cleanse the Tidal Basin, clean water would mean people, grateful people, the Capital Wasteland chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel would receive the very needed new blood, and knowing her father, the security of the wastelanders, of Project Purity, and the possible new town built around it would become paramount beyond anything else, to be honest, she didn't felt like a BOS soldiers of Lost Hills now, she had gone native, just like the rest, unlike the Outcasts, and unlike the rest of the chapters and the brotherhood in general, they were making friends, powerful friends.

She also knew that calling Sally would, without a shadow of a doubt, bring suspicious, to her, to Maverick, to Sally, to everything they did, but you can't make and omelet without breaking some eggs, or so the saying goes.

"Yes Sarah, actually I have an idea of how to call Sally without drawing too much attention to us, tell the guards to let me out, I'll return in an hour" Maverick said, taking the backpack off and handing it to Sarah, the sentinel was surprised to hear bottles clanking inside.

"Careful, I found some glowing soda in Paradise Falls, and a bobblehead, so please don't break nothing inside" Maverick stated, slowly walking away of Sarah, "I'll come back with Sally as soon as possible" he said, Sarah knew that Maverick would try to walk as far of the citadel as possible, so he could call a beacon safely, out of prying eyes.

It was a risky, yet smart maneuver, the only one they had.

Going to the labs, Sarah immediately went to the comm. Attached to the wall, "Knight Augusta, open the gate, Maverick coming out, he'll return in an hour with someone, let them both in when they come" Sarah commanded, she could hear the man actually take deep breaths, trying to bottle up his anger against a vault dweller for all they had done, then she heard him sigh.

"Yes sentinel…under protest"

"Duly noted, carry on" she said as she ended the call, making her way this time to the lower levels of the Citadel, the halls, once filled with officers of the government, were now filled with power armored soldiers and tribals working around, even the members of the reservoir were pulling their weight, wanting to help as much as possible in the fight.

Finally she arrived at her destination, The Den, home of Lyon's Pride; it had been some time since she actually used the room/conference room to something else but to develop plans.

Before she could enter however, and arm grabbed her shoulder, stopping Sarah turned around, seeing Crow Claw standing behind her, a scowl on his face.

"You let bastard son live…with us?" he asked, "First off all I would not call him bastard son, I know for a source he had a mother and a father" Sarah snapped, "Second, yes, yes I did, got a problem with that?" she asked, knowing where this was going.

"That…_man"_ he began, using the term man rather loosely on Maverick, "Is an offense to my people, we want, no, _demand,_ his scalp for all the misgivings his people brought to us!" Crow Claw snapped.

"Just because he is the only vault dweller on miles around doesn't mean I'm going to actually cave in on your demands, besides, you nearly broke your hand by punching him alone, what chances you have to actually take his scalp, if something he would take your scalp…and maybe part of your skull along with it" Sarah said, realizing a little too late that what she was doing was only fanning the flames.

"We'll see about that" was all Crow Claw hissed as he walked away, Sarah bit a curse back, Crow Claw had been the finest warrior of his tribe, only to be defeated by a vault dweller during the war, his tribe was nearly eradicated if it wasn't for the brotherhood, but Crow Claw's pride was gravely wounded, just like him, also stories went that Amata had been the one who had defeated Crow Claw, and so far had been one of the very few victims of Amata who had survived her, among them Maverick.

She understood Crow Claw's very well, Maverick was the closest any tribal or knight would get to see a vault dweller and it doesn't involve combat or a life to death situation, and many people had bones to pick with the dwellers, and since Maverick was the only one around…

She rubbed her temples, trying to find a way to ensure that no one would try to attack someone as strong as Maverick, while she knew Maverick would defend himself, he would do so and would surely not kill his attacker, unless his attacker tries something really stupid.

She really hoped no one tried that.

* * *

><p>"I'm going to eat your spleen!"<p>

"These guys are messed up" Maverick muttered to himself, ducking under a car, it was not he was not bulletproof, but his clothes were so nice he didn't want to damage them.

Here he was, ducking on a old rusted car, bullets wheezing around like crazy, the source, raiders, the raiders, a woman and three guys were holed up in a makeshift fort not far of the library he passed on his way to find a safe spot to call Sally and the beacon, the fort seemed nice, that was until the guys started shooting him.

Knowing he had little time to spare, he turned around, grabbed the car sides and began to push, the tires of the cars began to skid around, doing little to stop Maverick from pushing the car onto the entrance of the makeshift fort, he could faintly hear one of the raiders actually cruse openly as he saw the car move to them.

As the shooting intensified, Maverick could feel some bullets actually pass the car's plating, some of them actually hit him, at simple glance he noted that their guns consisted on automatic 10mm submachine guns, with the girl actually fumbling with…what that a grenade launcher?

Confirming his suspicious when a grenade shell impacted the roof of the car, blowing a hole in it, that was just enough for him, now with a clear view of the raiders he pulled That Gun and activated VATS, then he fired.

The four raiders were dead before they could reload at all.

Now with the coast clear he made his way to the fort, and after he took ammo and the guns of the raiders, he began to toss them out of the wall one by one, he didn't want Sally's first view of the world 200 years later to be four dead raiders with holes where their hearts were suppose to be.

Once he was done he brought his pip-boy and made the call.

"Sally, Sally are you there?" Maverick asked.

"_Yep, I'm here Maverick, good to hear your voice, want me to hack another orbital platform?"_ Maverick immediately chuckled at that, "Nope, just to let you know I'm ready to receive you, lay the beacon on my current position and you can come down" Maverick stated, immediately Sally squealed, he blinked at that.

"_I have been waiting Mavi, I got bored out of my skull after you guys left and the orbital platform hacking just dissipated it a little, got caught up in some projects here, been working to not get bored, and seeing the world trough small probes, I picked some interesting things and just finished one of them and picked something that will fit you, I'll be down as soon as possible"_

As soon as possible turned to be a minute later, the beacon landed 3 feet of Maverick current position, making him jump away in shock, then shook his head as Sally's form began to materialize, two heavy looking backpacks transported alongside her.

Once the transportation was done, Sally pressed the button on the top of the beacon and this one vanished, like the last one, Maverick gave Sally some time to adjust, after all she was just returning to her former home.

Sally by her part just looked around, a strange sense of nostalgia on her chest, then took a deep breath, and coughed.

"Ugh, 200 years later and a nuclear apocalypse didn't took out the smell" Sally commented, walking to Maverick, then smiling, "You have been busy mavi" Sally began, "I intercepted a lot of radio calls from the Enclave on their alleged bases, they want you and Sarah down" Sally stated.

"Can't say I can't blame them, Sarah is a symbol to the brotherhood, and me? Well they want my dad, I'm the chain they can follow to find him" Sally nodded at that.

"Not only that, I intercepted one last message before you called, they are mounting an offensive to the Citadel, is going to be big" Sally informed Maverick.

"How big?" Maverick asked, "Don't know, is not going to be like Anchorage or the invasion to China, but to these days standards, is going to be massive, what you did to piss them off?" she asked.

"Uh…blew up a slaver city" Maverick said, "Freed a lot of slaves and trapped one of my childhood friends inside a preservation chamber, after blowing her arm off" he added.

"Abraham Lincoln must be proud, your carrying his job of eradicating slavery…albeit he didn't blew towns apart, alone" Sally stated, crossing her arms, it supposed to be on a stern manner, but the smirk on her lips said otherwise.

"Anyway, the Enclave is not taking any chances now, you piss them off, they want to capture you and eliminate the brotherhood"

"Two birds with one stone" Maverick muttered, "Correct, the attack is still far, they won't attack until all their forces are mounted and gathered in the Jefferson Memorial, the closest landmark to the Citadel, it will take them two days, one if the press on and attack with what they got in the next 24 hours" Sally said, "I got a holotape recording of the orders, is general order, every soldier is called to battle" Sally stated, walking to the backpacks and tugging them to her.

"Really, what you did to piss them off that bad?" she asked again.

"Well humiliating them, but I don't think that's a cause for such an assault" Maverick stated, "You underestimate fascist leaders mavi, they don't tolerate such insults" she added, tugging the backpacks, but unable to move them more due to her small frame.

"Damn this ten year old body to hell!" she snarled, and then pouted when Maverick took both backpacks easily and slung them.

"Meaning to ask you, are you going to stay in that form, forever?" Maverick asked, walking slowly, Sally joining him at his side, "Not forever mavi, the drug used by the aliens was only found on the space-station, I'm going to start to age, I will not live forever as many think, which is a blessing, I couldn't stand being a kid forever, I want to grow up, fall in love, have children, age" she said, looking at the ruins around her.

"Is the same to you mavi, we are both experiments, brought to the peak of human evolution in both mind and body, neither of us can't get sick thanks to the nanobots on our bloodstream, you can't be killed by normal means, which is basically everything with two legs, but you can age, you can die of old age, natural causes, so will I, we will outlive a lot of people, but we will die in the end" she stated.

"Well, that's a comfort I guess" Maverick stated, "It is, I'm too old mavi, saw the war, saw my parents die, saw 200 years worth of horror, I want my next years to be well, I want to explore, go on adventures, visit a lot of places" Sally began, their walk approaching them to the library, and marked territory of the brotherhood of steel.

"Dad had made plans, you know? Vacations, all over America, we would visit first Zion National Park, camp under the stars, climb mountains, maybe get one of those vault-tec snow globes they were selling there and getting them to uncle House, he always loved snow globes, don't ask me why" Sally stated.

"Then we would have gone to Sierra Madre, a villa my dad made reservations, it pays to be hero of war you know, we would have spend the days walking on the beaches, the afternoons actually eating on massive lounges, with the best chefs doing food, and the nights, oh the nights, seeing the fireworks, or hearing Dean Domino and Vera Keyes singing in duet" Sally smiled fondly, "Mom was a fan of Domino, a voice as smooth as velvet she said, Julia once told me I was conceived when mom and dad heard 'something's gotta give' not a nice story but I can call that song my own for that" she stated.

"I could have do without the sordid details of how you were made" Sally chuckled at that, "Beyond that, the trip would eventually got us to Death Valley, what dad wanted there he never elaborated" Sally said, reaching for something on her jacket, pulling a pair of gleaming dogtags, Maverick noted that whatever had been written there was long erased by too much polishing.

"Dad died in front of me and Julia, rad poisoning, he never admitted it to me or Julia, a fusion engine fissure during the nuclear bombardment, he got a full blast of it on the face, we knew it could be bad but he put a brave face, but when we found mom…under the rubble of our home, some of him died, no matter how much Radaway we brought he never took a single drop, regardless of how much he insisted he took them, then as he died, he made me promise that one day, when I was old enough, or had someone I could trust to accompany me and Julia, I would go to Death Valley, to a zone called 'The Divide' and bury these tags there" Sally said.

"They were the only link I had to my dad after he died, I hid them of the aliens, and polish them regularly, of course the aliens never knew this, and kept experimenting with me, one of their experiments made me what I am now, but with one side-effect after it was done, I went insane, and I spend a whole day on my cell, polishing the tags with the cuffs of my jacket" she said, slowly bringing her left sleeve of her jacket, showing Maverick that indeed something had been rubbed there, hard, also he noted some spots of blood.

"I rubbed it so hard that I began to slice my own skin, it hurt a lot" Sally muttered, about to pocket the tags, only to be stopped by Maverick who grabbed the tags and slipped them over her neck, "Keep them close" was all he said, Sally simply nodded, tugging the tags under her jacket and shirt.

"Well, the last stop on our trip would have been Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps, and where everyone, even kids, are sinners on the making, were the stakes are high, and the hotel room are even higher, mom was religious, but she could mop the floor with everyone on Blackjack, and dad, well I never figured how he always won on the roulette" she stated, "Also we would have stayed with uncle House back in the Lucky 38, his casino and home, and watched the fireworks"

"Would have been some trip" Maverick stated, seeing how they passed the library, and some knights kept an eye on them, "Yep, I had saved my allowance of a whole year for the snow gloves I would buy on the road and ship them to uncle House, of course I would buy an extra pair for myself, and maybe if I was lucky, I would be able to get some bobbleheads, I found those things rather cute" Sally added, looking around the damaged streets, seeing two brotherhood snipers, following their steps trough their scopes.

"Maybe…just maybe" Maverick began, catching Sally's attention, "When this is all over, when I find my dad, when we beat the Enclave, and make Project Purity work, maybe I can join you and help you get that trip life owes you" Sally smiled at that, "Of course I can get your sister to join us too…"

"Nah, forget it, Julia is a couch potato, lazy to a fault, and while she is smart she tends to remain on one place rather than travel, she won't join us…besides she has always been the sensible one, she would break if I suggest this trip" Sally added, spotting the Pentagon walls, damaged, with metal walls around covering holes on some areas, laser turrets mounted high, out of the reach of anyone.

"Structure is sturdy enough to stand the attack" she mussed, "I really hope so, the vertibirds are going to be a problem, they can easily bypass the walls and drop soldiers inside" Maverick stated.

"If I get Liberty Prime online, then I guess it won't be a problem, I mean according to Sarah that thing is big" Maverick smirked at that statement, "Big is an understatement, it would have stepped on Lanius like one would step on a cockroach, it would crunch" Maverick stated, "But the IFF installed on Prime is an outdated version, it will see anyone as a target, or so Sarah said to me" Maverick replied.

"Must be a glitch on the AI network, for what I could gather, this is a problem general on every bot in the world, they began to act strange without their yearly maintenance, start snapping back at their owners after two years and then murderous after three years, it happened a lot back in my day" Sally said.

"Good thing is, I brought a lot of neat things from Mothership Zeta, included programs and circuits that, in theory should be compatible with Prime's AI network, and enhance several functions of Prime's combat directives, if worse come to worse, I'll have to erase Prime's AI completely and write a new one out of scratch, it will be hard, but not impossible" Sally said, Maverick didn't know how he would break those news to Sarah and Rothchild, the man in charge of Liberty Prime, Sarah would understand, Rothchild not so much, it was obvious the man had been working on Prime for a long time, and surely would not take the word of a little girl, no matter how smart.

"I hope you can fix it, if the attack is imminent, we will need Prime online"

* * *

><p>"So…it was Maverick" Autumn muttered, looking at the images of what used to be Paradise Falls, seeing troopers pull out of a damaged Pulowski chamber the only survivor of the massacre, Christine Kendall.<p>

But even her, the burned woman, the woman who could not feel pain was unable to stop Maverick from leveling Paradise Falls, free the slaves and basically run through the slavers like Yao Guai runs over radroaches.

A massacre, it was the only way to describe what had happened there, Eulogy Jones, or what was left of him after the explosions, was found, just part of his head, the explosions were kind to him, the other slavers were burned to a crisp, and even if they weren't, their bodies were torn apart by the explosions.

"Shut it down" he stated to the comm. Officers, he wasn't too thrilled to see what had happened, a massacre, a freaking massacre of the nastiest slavers, mercs and degenerates, after raiders, the Capital Wasteland had to provide, and one man had done the deed, alone, no support, just…some sort of super advanced stealth field and a ridiculously powerful handgun that blew Christine's hand and forearm cleanly, alongside two of her fingers on her left hand and her handgun.

"The attack has been approved by President Eden" the coronel narrowed his eyes, behind him was one of the dwellers, Amata was still on Vault 101, gathering her team for the assault, this one was just another kind of annoying.

"Ellen" August stated, turning to face Ellen DeLoria, the once drunk woman that, according to Butch himself, Maverick had saved from a horde of radroaches when she was on her worse, had shaped up after that incident, while he knew that she owed her life, and her new view of it to Maverick, she was also loyal to the Enclave, and surprisingly a strong advocate to their goals, she also stopped drinking altogether.

That didn't mean she was not annoying, especially if her only son was send onto dangerous missions.

"So I have heard that Maverick is truly back" Ellen stated, walking to August side, "Yes, we got him on tape back at the Capitol, a monster he is, he killed two enforcers barehanded, five of my soldiers, hacked and stole information from our mainframe and destroyed several projects along the way" Autumn stated.

"Not to mention that apparently he killed the Chimera and raised the commandos to the ground, and who can forget this now, Paradise Falls, a whole city…erased of the map, and he didn't even had a power armor on" Ellen said, narrowing her eyes.

"What do you want DeLoria, trying to find a way to steer your son away of Maverick? Or you just want company" Autumn stated, a small smile on his face showing up, alongside Ellen's, but vanishing almost instantly.

"A little bit of both, our spy says that Maverick has someone who can actually repair Prime's IFF and has left the Citadel to look for her, a person named Sally" Ellen said.

"She has proven to be a great asset, sabotaging Prime, delaying its deployment, outlying several caches of brotherhood weapons…supporters, she has done well" Autumn stated, slowly sliding one hand to Ellen's own.

"Indeed, I have already gave her last order, kill this Sally, without her Prime is useless, then self-termination" Ellen added, slowly gripping August hand with her own.

"Smart…was there anything else you wanted to say to me?" Autumn asked, Ellen seemed to hesitate for a second, then leaned and whispered something on his ear, something that made him go eye wide.

"Are you certain?" she nodded, "…I'll get my most loyal men, a vertibird, enough caps and wastelander clothes, if worse comes to worse…we shall leave, I won't risk your or my capture beforehand, not with what comes" he said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"August…that's so sweet of you" she said with a smile, "Butch can take care of himself, he learned all he could, like all vault dwellers he is tough, he'll endure" Ellen said, smiling at August, then walking away, leaving the coronel with a lot to ponder, the present, the future…his future with Ellen.

"…Murphy's law on effect"

* * *

><p>The Citadel, Sally had to admit, was something worth seeing, even after the war, seeing The Pentagon actually stand the punishment of the Great War made her look in awe at the walls, at the floor, at everything, even the people.<p>

She never imagined she would actually meet tribals, genuine tribals, albeit of the post-apocalypse, but tribals nonetheless.

"I gotta say, the place looks nice, all thighs considered" Sally stated, "Well, most bombs did fell on the city itself, on the suburbs around the city, or in the White House" Maverick stated.

"I know, I lived it remember, whenever I see a broken building, I remember the flashes, the quakes, the shattered glasses, the crashes of cars…the screams…I saw a man on the street, with my dad and sister…we saw him, then a flash came, hard, the next thing I know, I'm seeing the man burn without any explanation, his screams, how he begged for help…how a second flash reduced him to ash" Sally softly said, Maverick shook his head, "That's not a way to go" he stated.

"There is no dignified way to go Maverick, we just go, like that" Sally stated back, "Anyway" she said, taking a deep breath, "Besides all that, I was glad I didn't live too much of the black rain days" she said.

"I heard about them" Maverick said, opening the door to the labs, guiding Sally inside, fully aware of the stare of Crow Claw had on him and Sally, Maverick made a motion of 'I'm watching you' to Crow Claw as he closed the door.

"The radioactive material, dust, ash, chemicals, anything hazardous you could imagine was lifted during the Great War, it took time, a week to be exact, but it settled on the clouds, the first week after the war, black rain started to fall, radioactive rain, the true fallout of the Great War, a dog that was wandering when the rain hit died within minutes, so toxic it was that mere skin contact was enough for mild to grave poisoning" Sally added, "It was that same day, after the rain somewhat relented that me and my sister went out for some provisions, water, soda, anything drinkable that we could get our hands on, that day…the aliens kidnapped us" Sally said finally.

"Good, the black rain lasted four days, non-stop, according to some records on Vault 101, according to the records, it killed everyone, I can't believe we bought that shit" Maverick muttered.

"What else you could believe; it was the only version of the truth you knew" Sally summarized, Maverick simply nodded at her logic, it had been the only truth the overseer had allowed to everyone to know.

Any kind of musings died out when the duo reached the labs properly, and Sally laid her eyes on Liberty Prime, her eyes widened, and jaw going slack, she could only mutter one word.

"Fuck"

"Sally! Language!" Maverick snapped, yet Sally didn't pay him attention, she just stared at Prime.

"I can't….believe it…he did it, he actually did it" Sally whispered, some scribes noted her, and how she approached Prime, in fact many noted how she touched Prime's right leg with her hands, running her palm over.

"Saturnite alloy with titanium composite form the armor and chassis" Sally began, her voice a little louder, "RobCo industrial servo engines, hydraulics provided by Vault-Tec" Sally continued, now aware she had the attention of several scribes, knights and Maverick.

"Dual mounted Vulcan Machineguns in each forearm hidden within the chassis, .50 incendiary caliber rounds fired by the vulcans, each hand can extern a pressure of over 250,000,000 psi, enough to crush anything, diamonds included" Sally continued.

"Three nukes, each one of 2 kilotons of power, enough to destroy any building, vehicle or armored opponent, torso is equipped with an experimental cold fusion engine to power the proton shielding and photonic laser beams mounted on his head, overall a behemoth on the making, successor of Maximus Freedom" she finally stated, Maverick blinked at her, "Maximus who?" Maverick asked, a question Rothchild, one of the present scribes that could only stare at Sally with open awe and fright.

"How do you know about Maximus Freedom, that's classified info only found in RobCo terminals in the factory located outside the DC ruins?" Rothchild asked, Maverick and Sally just stared at each other, and then he nodded to her.

"Because I was present when Maximus was put online, I was present when the prototype engine placed on Prime was placed on Maximus and caused an explosive overload, I saw the blueprints of Prime before it was built" Sally called.

"I need full access to Liberty Prime, I am told its IFF is damaged, I'm here to fix it"

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you go, first part of this two part chapter, the next one will be published, god willing, the 30 or 31 of december, noon surely, so stay posted.<strong>_

_**I hope you liked this chapter, as usual, read and review, until a next time, and if i can't update to those dates then i wish you all a happy new year, cheers!**_


	11. 10: This is War, Part 2

_**Hellio my readers, it is I! Hypn0s, back with you with another chapter of the chornicles of Maverick!**_

_**Now i know i promised this chapter last year, sadly the last day I had to help my dad bakc in his shop, all day, by the time I came back i was tired as hell, as you can imagine, everyone waited for the last second to buy, so the shop was packed, I aplogize to those who waited the chapter that day, and I think I was a little bit ambitious by trying to upload the new chapter just two to three days after the last one.**_

_**In any case I give this chapter, the last for the month, I'm planning to take a little break of this one to retake Ichigo the Inferno and actually finish it, God knows I should.**_

_**Now, let's us begin.**_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 10: THIS IS WAR, PART 2<strong>

The moment Sarah emerged out of the Den, her father in tow and with part of the pride behind her was the moment several scribes wheezed past in front of them, all in a hurry.

"Hey, where's the fire?" Sarah asked, one of the scribes stopped, Sarah noting he held a computer on his arms, rather hard she might add.

"The vault dweller brought…some sort of genius, she has already worked Prime's IFF problem, sabotage" was all the scribe said as he began to jog away, he would have run, but the computer on his arms impede him greatly.

"Sabotage" Owyn intoned, it was too ominous, and made him frown, "A spy" Sarah hissed, looking at the pride, then at her father, "Let's go to the labs, it seems Maverick brought our mutual friend" Sarah said with a smile as she walked away.

Soon the group was in the labs, staring at the amount of scribes working on the computers, among them Rothchild and Maverick, a little girl standing on a platform behind Prime's head.

"Okay people we have a small margin of mistake, who mess up in the operation gets my feet up to his ass!" the little girl snapped loudly, "Huh…super genius and drill sergeant" Sarah mussed with a smirk, crossing her arms, "Double check those readings, I'm spotting several program lines with glitches, check parameters 24, 86 and 55" the little girl snapped, "Maverick, Rothchild, keep up checking those readings, I really don't want to be here if Prime powers up" she added as she focused on something behind Prime's head.

Some knights went to look what she was doing behind Prime's head, shock came when they saw she was working on a computer as well, her fingers barely blurs as she typed like a girl possessed, several cables connected to Prime's exposed interior.

"Okay run the programming lines, double check everything, give me an A-OK!" the little girl stated, before their eyes, the knights saw how every single scribe began to call programs or something they couldn't understand, giving OK's to the blonde girl.

"Nice, Maverick, Rothchild, final check-up, is the core stable for powering it up?"

"Indeed it is, although I recommend powering Prime without its weapons first, just a precaution" Rothchild stated, the blonde girl seemed to nod at this, typing in the computer, and some sort of confirmation sound emerged out of the computer.

"Alright, weapons offline, Rothchild, power it up, mavi, come here" Sarah openly chuckled at Maverick's nickname, sure as hell beats 'bastard son' or vaultie.

"That girl is Sally, certified genius whenever you look at her, she helped create the boomstick and That Gun, she helped me and Maverick escape, whatever was done to her, it made her a genius, a super-charged brain" Sarah stated, seeing how Maverick joined Sally on the platform, also noting a female knight behind them, looking at them oddly.

"Father…who is she?" Sarah asked, pointing at the female knight behind Maverick and Sally.

"…I don't know" That bothered Sarah, maybe her dad was old, and maybe the chapter had gotten a lot of new blood, but if one thing her father prized himself was his memory, he could remember the faces of every knight, scribe and initiate with ease, something not easy she admits, all things considered.

"Okay, powering Prime up, cross your fingers people" Sally stated, it was that moment that Sarah eyes widened when she saw the knight pull her laser rifle and advance at the duo, then take aim with such ease…

The moment the first shot was made Maverick was already covering Sally with his body, he could feel at least two hot sensations on his back before a barrage of lights emerged from bellow, and then all went quiet.

Looking up, Maverick spotted a dead female knight, burning holes on her armor chest plate, her face reduced to ash, exposing her skull, her laser rifle on her hands, barrel smoking, pulling himself up he checked Sally, the little girl shook her head, dusted herself off, and then turned to the computer, checking everything.

"Well…where we left off?" Sally asked to no one in particular, Sarah, who was lowering her RCW tommy gun, simply sighed, "Also she is rather…umh…she doesn't…uh, ah…violence barely shakes her off" Sarah stated awkwardly, there was no other way to explain that a ten year old girl was less than phased with violent attacks, or assassination attempts against her, not even wasteland born children where that hardcore.

After the attempt on Sally, and the apparent demise of the spy and saboteur of Prime, Sally finally descended of the platform, Maverick on tow.

"Okay, it's done" sally finalized, "I thought it would be bad, for what you described me, I thought it was a software problem" Sally stated, looking up at Sarah, then at Elder Lyons, "Oh, hi there, Sally House" she presented herself, then turned to Sarah again.

"It was not a software problem to begin with, pure sabotage, our little spy, who I assume was the one you turn her head to ash" Sally began, "Had planted a virus on Prime's main CPU unit, it was more like a tumor, whenever Prime was powered up, the virus would go online as well, and start growing up and feed on Prime's RAM memory reserves, that alone caused a glitch of monumental proportions, had you powered it up once a day for the next week, short words, it caused Prime's targeting unit to be offline, gyroscope as well, so it would not move as well as without the virus" Sally said.

"Then why it identified everyone as enemies?" Owyn asked softly, greatly surprised by the girl's incredible intelligence, and how fast she had found the problem, "Oh that? Well super spy there put some sort of control device on Prime's secondary CPU unit, Prime is as complex as it can gets, it needs a main CPU unit to coordinate main process, like a human brain, the secondary CPU however acts as glands controlled by the brain, well the moron placed the control device on the secondary CPU, that caused a conflict, thus resulting in the 'kill everyone' mode" Sally said.

"It was so well concealed that no one would have noticed on first glance, after all it would look like a software glitch rather than outside interference" Sally finalized, "I am…amazed, and troubled, that act alone means that the Enclave knew of Prime's existence all along" Owyn muttered, crossing his arms and rubbing his chin under his beard.

"If they are part of the old government they must surely knew a lot of secrets, Liberty Prime included, I'm actually surprised they didn't try to get it before" Sarah stated to her father, "Indeed, nevertheless I am pleased to know that Prime is fully operational, and we have rooted the spy, I say a good day" Rothchild stated happily, only to hear Maverick and Sally snort.

"Don't count your chips yet buster, this day ain't over, before I got here I intercepted an Enclave signal, they are mounting a strike, with everything they have, here" Sally stated to the high scribe, Rothchild didn't seemed troubled nonetheless.

"We knew this day would come, sooner or later they would grow tired of this stalemate and try to end it on one strike" Rothchild stated, "Indeed, but now that we have Prime, and we have Maverick as well, alongside Sarah, we have a fighting chance" Owyn added finally.

"Sarah, gather the knights and paladins, prepare them for battle, we will defend the Citadel, with our lives if so, tell the initiates to mount guards and barricades in the reservoir, I won't have innocents getting slaughtered" Owyn commanded, turning to Sally and Rothchild, "It's Prime ready for combat?" he asked.

"In theory yes, we still need to test the weapon and calibrate how much energy they will draw, not to mention how it will move" Rothchild began, "Let the calibrations to me, I work faster" Sally demanded, making Rothchild actually bristled, "Oh don't puff out like a proud bird, you know is true, instead focus on calibrating the outside turrets, so they attack the incoming soldiers and vertibirds, if what Maverick told me is true then we must expect a pronged attack on both air and land" Sally stated.

"The child is right Rothchild, as much it pains us to admit, she broke the problem of Prime faster than we could have ever anticipated, but I disagree on some parts, Rothchild, you're my head scribe and my best strategist, start outlining defense positions for everyone, Sally, deal with Prime and the turrets if you can" the little girl smirked, "Want me to do it blind folded?"

"Sally, don't be arrogant" Maverick stated, "When you have it flaunt it"

Sarah simply rolled her eyes, "Never mind her, geniuses are arrogant by nature"

"Hey!"

"Maverick, you'll be on the front gate, if I'm right, they'll use the dwellers as usual, as human battering rams to break our defenses, you will be our ace in the sleeve, I doubt they will be able to actually take you down with less than nuclear ordinance" Sarah stated.

"Please don't jinx it" Maverick muttered, "Do you know when the attack will commence?" Owyn asked Sally, "Don't know, tonight, tomorrow at dawn or midday, they are amassing all they have for this" Sally stated.

"Very well, everyone knows your positions, get on to it" with that Owyn walked away, "I will inform whoever I pass by" he added along the way.

"Mavi, follow me, I got to give you something before I start working…I'm glad I came here, I feel useful" Sally stated while skipping, Maverick raising an eyebrow as he followed her.

Maverick followed Sally, mindful of the looks the scribes and knights were giving them, none of them were hostile, but it made him uncomfortable, "Don't mind them" Sally stated, reaching the second floor of the lab, right where Maverick had placed the backpacks, he never came to ask her what she had in them.

"Well, I have been working with some things back…up" Sally said, minding the ears around them, "It was quite easy to make in a day, they had the pieces, I had the idea, I just had to assemble them, this" she said, opening one of the backpacks, pulling out of the backpack what seemed a black baton of some sorts, not bigger or thicker than his forearm, then she pressed a button and the baton expanded, now a rectangular slot emerged from one end alongside two capacitators.

"By the way, I like the new clothes, I remember the LAPD SWAT units used the same attire, but in grey and sometimes in green with camouflage pattern, your just missing the helmet and you would look just like one" Sally said.

"Really? Did SWAT units actually wear trench coats?" She nodded, "Remember that back in the day things were done differently, the trench coats might not stop high caliber bullets like the chest plate or the helmet of the armor, but they provided protection to minor caliber weaponry, shotgun pellets even if shot far enough" Sally stated.

"Anyway mavi, that's not just a simple metallic baton, this bad boy here is something one of the probes found while I was scanning around" Sally said, "Found it in the middle of a crater of what used to be a mountain if I remember correctly, the images of the probe showed me an installation, some sort of base…or laboratories, anyway the probe found this lying around on the ground, near a body that was being dragged away by one of those big flying bugs, I think Veronica called them Cazadores, by the way how is she?" Sally asked.

"Doing fine, haven't talked much with her honestly" Maverick confessed, "Considering all that has happened I understand, maybe we should talk to her after I finish with Prime and the turrets, it won't take me more than two hours, anyway" Sally said.

"Originally this couldn't fold like this, and couldn't be turned off, so I opened, tinkered with it, added some originals of me and we have this, swing it" Maverick did as told, once he swung it once, the capacitors began to glow red, and out of the rectangular slot, a curved, red energy like blade emerged, just like the one of an axe.

"Meet the kinetic proton axe" Sally presented, "Originally this axe was always on, thanks to a small fission battery placed inside, it could cut trough robots and people like if they were made of paper, and the body is made of a incredibly strong ceramic alloy called Saturnite, now that brings me back" Sally said.

"Mom bought a pair of Saturnite alloy made kitchen knives, she was always complaining that her knifes would dull or chip, now the cosmic knife, made of 'space-age alloy' were the solution, they were advertised that would never dull or chip away, and would retain a cutting edge, mom tested one and found out they were speaking the truth, so light, so sharp…sharp enough to cut your hand, a T-bone and the cutting board in one stroke with sufficient strength behind it and if careless enough" Sally said.

"Now while the axe's body was made of the same material, which was incredibly light for something of such size, it had a problem however, many of its components wouldn't survive more than a dozen of swings with the force you put behind it, so I exchanged many of the components with something harder, added some new ideas, replaced the energy source, and here you have it, an axe and a mallet" Sally stated, much to Maverick confusion.

"It will still cut anything electronic like nothing, robots beware, if you don't cut them down, the electricity in the proton blade will cause them damage in its internal components, fry them if you will, same with power armors, it will damage the servos and fry their internal fission batteries, I don't know if they will blow up after that, better steer clear, just in case" Maverick nodded.

"To living beings, now that's another story altogether, because of the modifications I made, the proton axe lost its ability to actually cut people down, all thanks to the new energy source, now instead of a fission battery powering it up, it has kinetic energy powering it up" she stated.

"So…every time I swing it, it will charge?" she nodded, "Not only that, the inherited kinetic energy behind the blow will transfer to anything it hits, meaning that robot or human, regardless, if you hit them you'll send them flying away, just like if you were using a sledgehammer" Sally said, "But with electricity added, you'll still electrify living beings as well" she added, "Press this button" she pointed a small button near the bottom of the axe's body, "To retract it" she pressed the button, immediately the axe retracted to a manageable size.

"That's for close range, now for mid-long range, now I know the boomstick is a weapon no one wants to get hit on, even you, and its rather big and cumbersome, I realized that against big targets this is the gun to have, far better than a Fat-man, provided you can lift it up and actually don't get blown away by the recoil, but against other things is pretty much overkill, and let's face it, I know you won't be carrying it all the time" Sally said, digging in the backpack, this time pulling something else.

"Meet my little friend" Sally stated, pulling out, much to Maverick's and many knights and scribes utter shock, a literal hand cannon.

Gripping it over the rectangular shaped cannon that was as thick and long as her forearm, she held the biggest handgun every person had ever seen, a revolver he knew at first glance, thanks to the loading cylinder and cocking hammer, the grip was ergonomic, and could fit his hand perfectly.

"How…how you did this?" Maverick said, taking the gun of Sally's hand, surprised by the almost non-existing weight for something that big and how flawless and new it was.

"That Gun, The Twin Boom, The Boomstick…all of them were jury-rigged weapons, we made them out of different weapon parts, how you made this one, it looks so new" Maverick stated, taking in the flawless material, the weapon was actually painted in a metallic blue color, the grip and being the exception, bearing a silver color, the rectangular barrel held the words 'Saturnite' and an emblem that reminded Maverick of Saturn, a massive gas giant planet with a set of dust like rings formed around it, the few images he had seen of it were of a satellite launched way into the 2002, some of the last missions to space before the space program was all but cancelled in 2005, and only communication satellites were launched into space to cover the demand of the ever growing humanity for faster communication need.

"You would be surprised what I can do with a computer, raw material and a assembly line" Sally began, almost in a whisper, knowing full well the people around her were curious of her and of the things she had, "The…place had a assembly line that could create nearly and infinite amount of whatever you wanted, as long you had the material for it, when I found the axe, I send the probe to scan a little more, it found a long ingot of metal as tall as you with the Saturnite emblem and name engraved in it, so I took it, I started to run scans in it, and saw it was a ceramic alloy" Sally began.

"With such material now I could work on an original weapon, thus this" Sally said, "I reprogrammed the computers and made them work on a unique model, specified by me, I asked some people what would work better on arid area, a pistol or a revolver, all agreed that a revolver, being simpler in firing mechanism and parts would be better than using a pistol which has more parts and is more prone to jam if not often cleaned" Sally said.

"Beyond that this gun is an upgrade to That Gun, magnetic coils around the barrel and inside the frame accelerate a .44 magnum round at supersonic speed, now since the barrel is longer, I added even more coils, meaning more speed, meaning more damage, even more so with access to our…former jailers tech, I was able to manufacture custom parts for this gun, I didn't add a scope because…honestly it would have been overkill" Sally confessed.

"I had to change the ammo you use because 5.56 rounds, while more easy to find than .44, are too big for the cylinder, if I did use it I would had to redesign the weapon, anyway" Sally added, taking That Gun of Maverick's holster, "You won't be needing That Gun anymore, also I got you some new ammo for this bad boy" Sally added.

"O…kay then" Maverick uttered, "…Any name for this particular gun?" Maverick asked, Sally simply smiled, a small, almost nostalgic smile, "Yeah, back in my day we had a word for those obsessed with the past so bad that they couldn't see the present, nor the future…Old World Blues" Sally said.

"I guess people these days also gets some blues trying to see the past, trying to figure what had been and not what it could be" Sally whispered, taking the gun of Maverick's hands and turning it to its right, exposing in the silver grip and a engraving there, the one of a falcon gripping a snake between its talons.

"My dad used to serve in the 34th mechanized unit back in Anchorage, the unit was nicknamed 'Snake eaters' for the way they dealt with the Cobra APC's of the Chinese, they knew were to hit them, one shot and those things would lit up like a Christmas tree, it didn't help either that they did that using heavily armored helicopters nicknamed 'falcons' due to the way they attacked, sweeping down to startled and defenseless enemies and laying fire with two miniguns mounted on each side of the helicopter and small rockets that were like directed grenades, the heavy plating of the helicopter allowed such daring move" Sally mentioned.

"When I was making the gun…I remembered that dad used to carry a magnum revolver back when he piloted the falcons, the magnum had the same engraving on the grip, it was given to him by Uncle House, along with the message 'don't you dare to die' with it" Sally said.

"…I…for a moment I looked back…and really hoped that I had died back in the war alongside Julia, it would have been humane, joining my mom and dad in whatever afterlife that existed…I looked back, and nearly forgot what I had in front of me, what was around me, I got the blues, and nearly stayed there if I didn't remind myself that my past was as gone as the world before, my sister was with me, I had friends, and one of them was waiting for my help" she said, handing the weapon back to Maverick.

"OWB, Old World Blues, remember what it means, you can look back, but don't dwell in it" she said firmly.

Maverick nodded solemnly, holstering OWB and slowly removing the 5.56 rounds out of the bandoleers tied to his waist.

"One more thing" Sally said as she pulled out of the backpack two small boxes that were surely full with ammo for OWB, "The Saturnite alloy, while strong and light, surprisingly retains heat like nothing I have ever seen, I estimated that every time you shot OWB some heat would gather around the barrel, after you shot six rounds, the barrel would be hot enough to actually burn someone's face if you hit them with it, to prevent this problem and damage to the coils, every time you reload, the accumulated heat will be expelled out when the cylinder is moved for reload, allowing cool air, well as cool as it can be in the wasteland, to enter the gun to cool its insides, in any case the gun is ready to go" Sally said.

"these two boxes hold 54 rounds, 48 when you load them into OWB, I know you will find more rounds" she stated, closing the backpack and reaching for the other backpack, this time slinging that one on her back, "You can keep this one mavi…okay I'm off to work, wish me luck" the little girl said almost casually, making him chuckle slightly, one would imagine that after all that had happened, one would steer clear of more conflicts, but apparently not him and Sally.

With a sigh, and knowing what might came ahead, Maverick set out of the labs, not knowing what the night might hold to him, or anyone else.

* * *

><p>"Operation: Broken Steel is in effect" Autumn nearly chocked when he said those words to President Eden, and it wasn't for anything else, this operation, kindly nicknamed broken steel was simply a termination order for every single brotherhood knight, initiate and whoever was with them, the Enclave would attack, and there would not be survivors.<p>

The attack was twofold of course, Maverick was in the Citadel, if they wanted to lure James out, they needed Maverick, his screams of pain would surely make the father rush to whenever he believed Maverick was.

Yet this plan had to be executed flawlessly, this concentration of troops would not go unnoticed by no one, the brotherhood would notice, so would Three-dog, the main informant…for the wasteland, so would the wastelanders, besides everyone would notice a large concentration of black power armored individuals and vertibirds moving to a single spot.

It was ironic to him that Project Purity, once a holdout of Super Mutants, was now the assembling point of Enclave forces after the attack to Raven's Rock and the demise of Paradise Falls, two major attacks in two days, he felt rather…annoyed how a wayward vault dweller had put two damaging blow on them, at least the orbital platform had not been aimed to the Mobile Crawler.

The troops were both hyped and scared, the concept of going against the brotherhood and ending the war had them on high alert, but the simple thought of going against someone who killed to enforcers, bare-handed simply scared them, not to mention the fact that Christine, upon being found in what used to be Paradise Falls, kept muttering about Maverick, and how they couldn't kill someone who was basically death, now in the sense, but The Death.

Now there was something to think about, it was obvious Catherine had been delusional by the explosion, the trauma of her blown arm, even if she didn't felt it, and the slaughter of every slaver of Paradise Falls by one single man, but in the American Wasteland there existed legends that one could not simply ignore, the vault dweller of vault 13, slayer of The Master, and one of the most iconic figures of NCR, alongside the first president of that new nation.

From that point onward, you could trace a list of outstanding people that had become legends on the wasteland, like some sort of wild west myths, each one of them began to leave their mark on the world, for good or evil, The Vault Dweller, The master, The Chosen One, Frank Horrigan, Caesar, Joshua Graham and the Burned Man, each name as big as the legends of the places on the American wasteland, The Big Empty, The Divide, Sierra Madre, Point Lookout, The Glow, each one of them, sought by treasure hunters, each one of them with legends as amazing as horrible.

Autumn rubbed his eyes, wanting this operation to begin immediately, but this was not to be, their numbers, while substantial now, would do little against the Citadel, the place is a fortification, it held during the Great War nuclear bombardment, it would hold an all out assault of the Enclave.

That's why they would lead a pincer attack, one on the main gate, the other on the underground parking lot entrance.

A zone that Amata and her team were already scouting.

* * *

><p>Veronica admitted that The Citadel, by far, surpassed anything that Lost Hills had, first thing, you could actually see the sky while inside the base, unlike in Lost Hills, a bunker can easily be an impregnable fortress or your tomb, and as things are progressing, it could be the second.<p>

Elder Lyons was her new hero, she admitted, the man saw beyond the duties of the brotherhood, maybe High Elder Maxson had the right idea on keeping technology out of people's hands, at first, during the rise of the most vicious raider gangs ever know, but she had learned that when you don't have the technology, you fabricate it.

Project Purity was such an example, a massive water purifier of the likes never seen, NCR would pay an arm, a leg and their virgin daughters to have access to the massive purifier and its limitless source of water, after all the Tidal Basin was fed by the irradiated ocean, once Project Purity is online, the ocean waters would once again, help mankind.

Now as a member of the Capital Wasteland brotherhood chapter, she had to wonder, how McNamara would take the news of her departure and sudden addition to a brotherhood chapter on the other end of the American Wasteland.

Surely not good, McNamara is a good man she admits, but he is too tied to the rules and tabulations the Codex imposed over the members of the brotherhood in general.

Oh she had an idea what she would do after this war is done, she would ask someone to give her a lift back to the Mojave, and bring some of the Followers of the Apocalypse here, this place needed them, and she knew that Elder Lyons and the Followers of the Apocalypse would hit it off right on the start, after all they shared one goal, the survival and improvement of mankind by using pre-war tech, not hoarding it.

Her musings were cut short when she saw Maverick pass by near the courtyard.

"Hey Maverick!" Veronica called, the moment he turned was the moment a bullet sounded off in the courtyard, while this was not uncommon thanks to the firing range nearby and the initiates who used 10mm handguns to practice, this was different because the bullet was fired by a tribal, and the target was Maverick's head.

At other occasions, Veronica would had drew a horrified look because of the shot and the target, but since this was Maverick, the effect was different, the bullet bounced off his head, flattened like if it had hit a piece of a power armor, all while Maverick tilted his head to the source of the shot and uttered one single word.

"Ouch"

To one Crow Claw, that snapped him of the trance he was after seeing a bullet bounce harmlessly out of the vault dwellers head, without even a drop of bloodshed, or brain matter for that matter.

"You…are truly a monster" Crow Claw uttered, rising his handgun to fire again, this was in vain because Maverick was already on him and held him on a chokehold, lifting him off the ground upon the stupefied looks of the many tribals and knights seeing this.

"You moron, there are people here that were passing by, aim bad and that bullet might have ended in their heads!" Maverick snapped angrily.

Everyone looking could only wait for the inevitable death of Crow Claw, after all what they could do against someone who got shot in the head and the bullet actually bounced off his skin?

Shock came again when Maverick simply released Crow Claw, shaking his head, "Grow up" was all Maverick said to the fallen tribal as he walked away, Crow Claw didn't took that comment very well, he immediately took aim, on the ground, and fired, like last time, the bullet bounced harmlessly of Maverick's head, but the shot, near the base of Maverick's head made him stop and actually jerk his head to the front, a little.

Then he turned, and he looked miffed, and that was saying something, it seemed that Crow Claw needed more than being held in a chokehold by someone who could kill him by just sticking his finger to his skull or simply closing his hand over his neck.

Crow Claw began to fire the moment Maverick turned and began to advance at him, each shot met its mark, but did little to stop Maverick, there they noted that unlike the other two shots, these now didn't made him jerk back at all, they just bounced off and he kept advancing.

Soon Crow Claw had run out of ammo, and Maverick was in front of him, no one wanted to look away, or do something about it, it was like seeing two speeding Deathclaws about to crash on each other, head-first, an spectacle you didn't want to miss out at all.

"You…are not meant to be" was all Crow Claw uttered before Maverick sweeped his hand, taking the handgun of Crow Claw's out of his hands, then began to crush it, the sound of metal bending and pieces falling out of Maverick finger gaps was noticed by everyone, even more when he tossed it away, showing that only the grip had survived Maverick's grip, the rest was bended in a way that was not natural at all.

"You want to actually hurt me?" Maverick asked, reaching for his holster, then pulling OWB, many eyes, Crow Claw's included, grew in size upon laying eyes on the hand cannon Maverick was handling with one hand.

"You need something bigger" was all he said as he lowered the gun and took aim at one of the dummies near the shooting range, everyone was already moving away of Maverick and his target, in case he missed when he pulled the trigger.

He didn't, the moment he shot, everyone felt like if their insides were about to turn into jelly by the shot shockwave, and many actually screamed when the dummy, which had held both gunshots and laser shots, and was made of wool, pieces of concrete and metal, was reduced to dust, blown away of its base by Maverick's little friend.

All was silence after that, just the sound of pieces of the dummy hitting the ground, and then the sound of metal sliding into leather.

"I don't know what's your problem with me, but I don't care, I'm on the same boat as you are, they want me dead as well, so you either wise up and help me fight them off, or you get out of my way and let me do things without watching for someone of my team trying to shoot me on the back" Maverick hissed, slowly walking away.

"Your…team?" Crow Claw hissed, standing up, "You have no team here bastard son" Maverick kept advancing, "You are alone, forever cursed to wander these lands…alone…monster" Crow Claw stated, "You have no one to help you, you will die alone…just like everyone of my tribe" Crow Claw whispered the last part, yet Maverick heard it.

"Was Amata responsible for the death of your tribe?" Maverick asked to Crow Claw, still giving the tribal his back, "…Yes" was all Crow Claw said, seeing how Maverick shook his head, "…That's all I needed to know" Maverick replied, heading towards the main entrance and disappearing behind the door.

No one knew what to say after that, no one wanted to, Veronica wanted to, but she held herself, she held her tongue until she saw Crow Claw stand up, then she approached him, and gripped him by the neck.

"You are one lucky son of a bitch you know that?" Veronica asked to the still stunned Crow Claw, "Let me tell you a little story, one about a vault dweller that left it all, his home, his friends, his life, just to find his father, outside in a big world, alone, he escaped thanks to his best friend, a girl, the daughter of the overseer of that particular vault" by that last word, everyone had already connected what Veronica was saying with Maverick and Amata, there was no secret that Amata Almodovar was the daughter of the current overseer of Vault 101, and Maverick's sole presence indicated that he was the dweller that escaped, thanks to Amata, his friend.

The very concept of thinking that Amata had once friends was mind-bogging; no one could actually relate the mass-murdering sociopath that was Amata to a woman who had helped her best friend escape.

"The boy escaped, just to be captured by slavers, sold to mad scientists, and experimented like a lab rat, six months, six months of the most depraved experiments you can think off" Veronica stated to the tribal, "The scientists didn't counted on their experiment waking up, let alone helping other experiments to escape, among them Sarah" Veronica hissed, some knights now could actually say why Sarah looked five years younger.

"Then the dweller met his friend again, in that spot, also kidnapped and experimented, not like him, but enough to put her above any mercenary" she added, "But he knew she was changed, he was told about the war, the atrocities her friend committed, every death committed by her made him feel sick, then they crossed paths, you know what was the first thing she did after seeing him?" Crow Claw just stared at Veronica straight in the eyes.

"She shot him, twice, no measuring words, no nothing, she just shot him, bullets bounced off him, just like yours, but unlike this time, he fought back, he punched her, he kicked her hard enough to make her vomit blood, he broke her ribs with 'light' punches" she said as she released Crow Claw.

"She called him traitor, murderer, yet he is innocent, his only crime was turning his back to his home, for his father" then she walked away, "Be thankful he didn't decided to use you as a practice dummy…he is a tribal, just like you…a tribal without tribe" she then followed where Maverick had left, leaving a bunch of stunned tribals and knights.

Once she was on the other side, she saw Maverick, standing near the door, looking at exactly nowhere in particular, just looking upwards.

"You didn't need to stuck up for me" Maverick mentioned, Veronica slightly smacked Maverick on his side, "I'm the kind of girl who doesn't follow many rules, if I could I would rewrite the Codex…then again the scribes would realize of the change" Veronica said, looking at Maverick with concern on her eyes.

"Have you ever wondered…what's your goal in life?" Maverick asked, "Yep, mine's getting a dress" she said, "Yeah, a…a dress?" Maverick actually looked at her oddly.

"Yeah, something sexy, eye-catching, something that says 'I'm sexy' but also 'don't fuck with me' I always hoped I would come with something like that during my scavenging trips, but so far no luck" Veronica stated in a sad tone.

"…my goal…I don't even know what my goal is" Maverick stated, "I thought at first was to get dad, figure why he escaped, why he left me without even uttering a goodbye, but then I learned a lot of things of him, Project Purity, mom, then I saw what Amata and the others had become, how much…we had changed…they had changed…I have changed" Maverick said.

"I know because I would rather talk my way out of a fight than rather punch it away, I know it because Butch was never that collected and cold headed, like I saw him back on the ship, I know because…Amata was not a blood-carving maniac" Maverick stated, "I wonder what I will do…after this is all over…I promised Sally to end the trip life owes her, but then what?" Maverick asked.

"I don't know, fall in love, get married, fornicate like you were on aphrodisiacs high and have seven children so you can help with the repopulation of the world?" the way Maverick stared at Veronica told her that obviously, what she suggested was not high on his priority list, or in his list at all.

"You…have a dirty mind Miss Santangelo" Maverick stated, Veronica simply chuckled at that, "Oh you don't have no idea…my girlfriend found out about that on our second month of dating" Veronica stated with a fond smile, Maverick just shook his head, bringing his pip-boy up and started to press buttons.

"What are you doing now?" Veronica asked, "Oh, this?" Maverick asked, pointing at his pip-boy, "Well, RobCo made out two versions of the pip-boy, one was the 2000 series, a handheld device, kinda cumbersome to some people, but it was made like that because, according to Vault-tec, the west wouldn't get as badly hit by a nuclear war unlike the east, which held the capital of the nation" Maverick began.

"So the 2000 series were given to the vaults in the west, with some exceptions if I heard, and the east got the 3000 series" Maverick stated, "Are you going to tell me what are you doing or you're going to regale me with incredibly boring stories of how the vaults were made?" Veronica asked.

"Well, RobCo issued several, non-standard applications to the pip-boys, you could write a message in them…if you were patient enough, record messages and pretty much cause blunt force trauma to someone if you hit them hard enough with one of them, they are made to last, just don't try it with a 2000 series, I heard their chassis where eggshells, but the edges are pointy enough to pull an eye out" Maverick stated, Veronica simply shook her head slowly.

"Hell, you could even have your own diary in this thing, 1 terabyte of memory if I'm correct, it might explain how the hell it has a detailed map of the United States" Maverick stated.

"But there were two functions that only the overseer of each vault could unlock…that and my dad" Maverick said with a smirk, "The first one is Omega 13, is only available on the 3000 series, due to being attached to our arms, it basically means is a kill switch, it injects a very acid solution directly on our veins, we are dead within the minutes, dad disabled his and mine when he found out about it" Maverick stated.

"Might explain why Alphonse was so spooked with us, he must have activated the Omega 13 on our pip-boys and didn't work" he added as an off-comment, "The other one is non-lethal, more like a tracking device, with that I say a lot, every pip-boy is linked to vault 101 mainframe, it cannot locate us directly, it acts more like a beacon to interlinked pip-boys, simple words, is like a chain, you link one pip-boy signal to the other, you activate the tracking system and it will lead you to that particular pip-boy" Maverick began, Veronica nodding in real awe at the pre-war geniuses of RobCo and Vault-tec.

"Dad is a genius, not only in the medicine field, but in general, he ain't Sally, but to a normal man like him, knowing what he knew, and doing what he did, was something short than amazing, he hacked the mainframe of Vault 101 and linked our pip-boys with every pip-boy related to 101, a just in case he said" Maverick said, "Now let's see if this 'just in case' actually was worth it" he added, pressing a button Veronica saw how Maverick's pip-boy screen began to flash, several dots displayed on a bird's view map of The Capital Wasteland.

At the same time, Maverick and Veronica narrowed their eyes, seeing ten dots already inside the Citadel.

Looking at each other they began to move, they didn't mediate words with knights or scribes, some tribals stared at the vault dweller and the rag dressed scribe walk together, actually reaching the entrance to the reservoir in record time, using the stairs, and making their way to one of the oldest sections of the reservoir, at least to the tribals.

The parking lot had single entrance, a ramp, which entrance to the surface had been covered with a thin lair of concrete and junk.

Once there Maverick narrowed his eyes, Veronica couldn't see it, but thanks to his HUD and radar, he could see ten hostile signals behind the wall, hostile signals that walked away by some reason.

Maverick narrowed his eyes at that, it was obvious those were vault dwellers, but what they were doing? Recon? Paving the way for…

"Shit" Maverick muttered, realizing that Sally was right, this was an all-out assault, they wanted him captured, and they wanted the rest dead, what better way to do that that to attack a weak spot?

"Maverick?" Veronica asked, "Veronica, go with Elder Lyons, tell him a recon unit of vault dwellers found a weak spot on the reservoir" Maverick said, "I'll stay here…the dwellers won't attack the main entrance, they will hit us from behind"

* * *

><p>"Confirmed, the foxhole has been found" Amata called, a small two way radio on her hands.<p>

"_Excellent Almodovar, this is a great development, now we can focus our forces well"_

"Indeed, I am still worried about those turrets; I swear a pair of those were trailing us, like staring us" Amata admitted.

"_That is ridiculous, those turrets had limited range, even if they detected you, they wouldn't fire unless you slipped into their firing space, allowing them a firing solution"_

"I know that" Amata hissed, "We also detected several hostile signatures on the other side, surely tribals, but one of the signatures was awfully close, like if it knew something" Amata replied.

"_Irrelevant, focus on the task at hand, are they placed?"_

"Yes Mr. President" Amata states, maybe someone would actually comment as of why the leader of an organization would be actually leading his people to battle, most leaders of the post-apocalypse world don't do that, mostly delegating to other people.

But Eden was different, lead by example was what he did, on some special occasions, his predecessors had failed to see that by actually being on the field, actually seeing what was happening, one could change things, to fight, to see, to command, there is one reason why the resident of each nation, back in the day, was the supreme commander of his forces.

Lyons had led by example, but age had hampered him, you don't expect an old man carrying a rocket launcher fighting these days, yet in a way Lyons had found a way to fight in the form of his daughter, Sarah, and her return, alongside Maverick's, had bolstered the spirit of the Brotherhood of Steel.

Well that ended now she summarized.

"_Are the Satchel charges set?"_

"Yes Mr. President, although I must state that you must not participate in this, the brotherhood is dangerous enough" Amata tried to reason with the man, the reason why was because he wanted to capture Maverick himself, the old saying of 'if you want something done, do it yourself' in full motion.

Problem was that he wanted to personally capture Maverick, he didn't knew how dangerous Maverick had become, he would end up dead, power armor was just a nuisance to him, power armored super mutants were obstacles that he could run into and tear through, the president…it would like putting a piece of paper to try and deflect a laser beam, Maverick would stamp Eden to the ground.

"_I understand your concern, but this matter has to be ended personally, and definitely by myself, you told me Maverick can be talked, he is a man of knowledge, of science, like his father, a man who can be reasoned with, I'll talk to him, I'll explain my points, if he is as half-the man of words you once spoke off, he will see reason"_

Amata didn't found a flaw in this plan, so far, Maverick had always tried to find a peaceful resolution to things, every time, but she also knew that Maverick would fight back when all other options were exhausted, Christine had pointed that out, the only reason behind the massacre of Paradise Falls was because every person there were slavers, and Maverick, being a moral person, saw slavery as an aberration, and those practicing it lined up for death row, for him.

"Sir…maybe you're right, but remember that Maverick will also fight if he sees the necessity of it, I recommend not pursuing this path, just capture him and that's it" Amata recommended.

"_I have seen the security footage, I know what I am fighting against Almodovar, if you think I'm going there unarmed or unprotected you are clearly underestimating me, violence will have to be our last resort, many of my men had died already on the hands of Maverick, if I can prevent this by talking him out, so be it, if not, I am already prepared for this, now prepare yourself for battle"_

Amata let out a long sigh, this was going to be one of those days she summarized, at least she had to escort the president on this one, the strike team she was forming was already on the front lines, every single one of them with some exceptions for this, it was her, Susie, Freddie, George, Sigma Squad, two controlled Deathclaws, five enforcers and a garrison of Gary clones, armed and armored clones.

One might think it was overkill, but against Maverick, she had long learned that against him, overkill is merely being prepared for the worse.

With a slight migraine, Amata prepared for the night hostilities.

_**That night, 8:23 PM, The Citadel…**_

Sally rubbed her hands as she stood up of her chair, her work done beyond anyone's capability; the scribes around her were too surprised, or too prideful to admit that her arrival had typed the balance to their favor.

She didn't mind this one bit, she had dealt with prideful arrogant before, her school had been full of them before, all boasting their parents were helping on the war effort, she had boasted once of course about her father being a pilot, and reason why many Cobra APC's were disable, but arrogance can run deep, even on a young age, if that wasn't enough, she had boasted that her Uncle was no one else that Robert House himself, the billionaire mogul and genius, that confession earned her being ganged up by five girls of her age, also rich girls with rich parents that couldn't tolerate the name House at all, she still bears scars of that day in particular, her torso was riled up with scars, scars only Sarah had seen and had the decency to not comment on.

Of course that wasn't the first time she was attacked in such a way, but it was the last time, she remembers well enough, the last week before the world went to hell, her dad had came back of Anchorage, her mother was packing up and getting them ready for the trip of their lives…then the bombs fell, and all went to hell.

She remembers clearly seeing in the following days one of her tormentors, laying on one of the streets near the school, dying, Radiation poisoning being the cause, just like her dad, a fissure had caused the girl to take on a highly radioactive dose, her still developing organism was not yet ready to deal with such poisoning, not even Rad-way could save her, Sally remembers clearly what the girl said.

She was sorry, so sorry, so afraid of being alone, the other girls had deserted her once she had been exposed to the radiation, and was left to die, Sally had stayed with her until she drew her last breath one hour later, her last words being "Arrogance…is not nice"

Sally, from that day onward stopped being arrogant, when Maverick chastised her for being arrogant she felt kinda hurt, she had seen where arrogance leads, she didn't snap back because he was right, she was being arrogant, gladly she was able to recover and redeem herself by working on Prime and the turrets.

That had allowed her some time to think.

This world, this land…it was not longer her world, her home, her land, to her the old world had died in a blazing glory of nuclear fires, nearly 10 billion lives snuffed out with a press of a button, she had been among the lucky million predicted by Vault-Tec to survive outside in case the bombs fell, and, if Maverick and Sarah were led to believe about the Ghouls origins and unnatural longevity thanks to the radiation, she was among the very hundred to have seen the war and survive its aftermath, her sister Julia among them.

The matter at hand was that this world, this time, this war was not hers, she had no business here, she could leave and Maverick would not hold her because of it, he understood all she had suffered, he really did, he was not someone who simply nodded and said yes every time, trying to imagine what it feels to have lost it all, they were so similar, their worlds rocked out of their feet, all they knew and loved, taken away in a blink of an eye, forced to become survivors, and then return, only to see that all they knew was no more.

If she was being honest, she was doing this only for Maverick , Sarah and Veronica, they were her only links to this world, she won't say that she has ulterior motives for being here, seeing Liberty Prime had stirred a lot of emotions, her long passed uncle had designed both Maximus and Prime as weapons, and while Prime was obviously the superior model to her uncle Maximus and securitrons, she knew that his greatest accomplishment had been something different, a revolutionary data storage device as small as a betting chip, he always told her that the chip was still being developed, and being the paranoid man he was, he would make sure that the chip would be safely transported, and in case someone were to acquire it, they wouldn't be able to see what it truly was because her uncle would hide it under the façade of a simple Platinum made chip.

She wondered why her uncle wanted that anyway, Liberty Prime had been the pinnacle of technology, warfare technology, but technology nonetheless, the proton beams and the photonic shielding was such an example, the energy to fuel one was, short to say, massive, to power them both, Prime's main servos, its processor and weapons, alongside the fact that the reactor was removable energy, made Liberty Prime the mixture of every imaginable technology that could, if properly used, could have helped the world avert the crisis that led to its destruction.

Of course she had heard some things of her uncle, before they didn't bothered her, she had photographic memory, but she was not exactly the brightest bulb on the box, after all she was ten years old before, her brain was one of a small ten year old kid.

But now it was different, she knew things, 200 years was too much time for her, she remembers clearly when Uncle House spoke about some 'security holograms' that Sinclair, a multimillionaire mogul of the industry of music and gambling, just like House, began building what would become the greatest casino ever, The Sierra Madre Casino, and alongside a Villa, she knew that her uncle was not bothered by another casino, and she wasn't bothered at first when she saw several copies of a shipping manifest of the US army detailing several weapons, not to mention the strange manifest of a place called Big MT, a place, she honestly says, doesn't know at all, but if her uncle was keeping tabs on it, meant it was something big.

Moving her neck around, Sally made her way out of the labs, there was nothing she could do for the turrets and Prime, unless they wanted her to make the turrets shoot down asteroids or make Prime actually skip his way onto battle while singing 'stars and stripes' and the song of captain cosmos.

Walking around and ready to leave the lab, she spotted the Boomstick near one of the desks, on the ground, she understood why the boomstick was on the ground, the thing was heavy enough to make any kind of table to break on its weight, she wondered however why two knights were trying to move it.

"Hey!" Sally called, marching towards the knights; both gave them a look, not really in the mood to deal with her, sadly they weren't given any kind of respite when she arrived, "What are you doing with the boomstick?" she asked, both knights just grunted, trying to lift it up again.

"You're going to pull something off" Sally said, approaching both knights and immediately working on their fission batteries, both knights nearly had seizures when she did that, usually when you tinker with w a T45-D, it is done when the guy is outside the armor, the risk of the battery going off is too great.

One of the knights was about to say something when he easily lifted the boomstick, well one part of it anyway, looking at the little girl who smirked at him, then turned to the other knight, doing the same and allowing him to lift the other part of the boomstick.

"One thing about power armors, the more energy, the more powerful the servos become, is just so you can lift the boomstick and tell me where are you taking it" Sally stated, arms crossed.

"Well…" One of the knights began, "Scribe Santangelo came and asked us to bring this gun to the vault dweller…Maverick" the knight began, Sally noted that while the knight mentioned Maverick's name in certain contempt, it was not open hostility, maybe his little mission to Paradise Falls was a success after all.

"He believes they will use a closed entrance in the reservoir to attack us while we focus our forces outside, in the courtyard" the other knight said.

"…a diversionary attack, the troopers are just cannon fodder, it's going to be a pincer attack alright, but they will attack a weakened rear-guard" Sally mussed, really intrigued by the plans of the Enclave.

"They must really want Maverick captured" she summarized, gaining the attention of both knights, "He is the only link to the creator of Project Purity, without him, they can't hope to complete it" Sally stated, knowing full well the story behind Project purity, a noble dream and endeavor, if only they could bypass the problem of processing such large amounts of water, she knows the mothership doesn't has nothing that can be actually used to do that, besides this was purely earth scavenged tech, the super-advanced tech of the aliens would cause a conflict and make the Jefferson Memorial go in a blaze…or blow a hole on what is the Capital Wasteland, she can't take that risk without knowing what Project Purity is truly made.

The trip to the reservoir was quiet, both knights marveled with the fact they could actually lift something so heavy as the boomstick, and actually wondered how Maverick could lift it with ease without a power armor on, all while Sally gazed o what used to be the halls of the Pentagon, age and abandonment, alongside the lack of proper care had made the walls crack, the paint was already falling out of the walls, and most of the doors were barely holding on their rusted hinges, if this was the state of every building on every part of the world, then there was a lot of work to do to return to it to its original state.

Then yet again, tearing every building down and making something new out of the scarps sounded like a better idea.

Once they arrived to the reservoir, she spotted a lot of tribals walking around, moving away, most of the males were pulling out lances and what seemed to be crude versions of Tomahawks, women were pulling their children away, and in one particular area, stood Maverick, looking at a wall.

The knights simply moved around, left Maverick's boomstick near him and walked away, giving Sally a nod and thanks for the small upgrade to their armors.

Sally by her part walked at Maverick's side, mindful of the amount of tribals moving away of their makeshift homes and leaving a lot of males there, armed males that seemed ready to repel an invasion…coming out of the wall?

"Maverick…what's going on?" Sally asked, slightly startling Maverick with her sudden appereance, he also noted the boomstick laying near, "A diversion attack, they want to attack here, and attack the non-defended rear" he stated.

"…Makes sense, classic movement" Sally said, "Battles like this are like chess, you need to anticipate you opponents every move, but even in chess, such a controlled game, a little of chaos and confusion can appear" Sally commented.

"They will expect you to be topside, not here" Sally said, "I doubt it, I guess they must be really desperate to do this, an all out assault is either sign of confidence on one's troops and victory or desperation to end a war of attrition with an equal footing opponent" Maverick said.

"Bet ya…uh…10 caps…I guess, that it's the second" Sally stated, Maverick rose an eyebrow at that, "Now…you think the elite force will come here, right?" he nodded at her question, "I doubt that you and a bunch of tribals with spears and hammers will stop them altogether, well you will, but with the consequence of the tribals demise" Sally stated bluntly.

"I know Sally, but they are not budging, they want to fight, to get even, the Enclave and the vault dwellers had taken too much of them, their lives, their homes, they want to pay them equally"

"Blood with blood, murder with murder…you know, there was an old saying back in the day" Sally began, "And eye for an eye makes the world blind" Sally stated, "Amen to that…but this is a different world I reckon, I dare say that I'm as old fashioned as you" Maverick stated with a smirk.

"Are you insinuating something?" Sally asked with a smirk of her own, "Maybe I am Miss House, are you going to do something about it?" Maverick asked.

"Why I am…uh…what's your last name?" Sally asked, Maverick was about to answer when he suddenly stopped, like thinking about it.

"I…don't know, dad never told me about it…in fact" Maverick began, "I think we don't have last names, I never found it odd truth to be told, everyone called dad 'doc' or 'James' or 'Dammit James' that last one was the overseer's favorite one" Maverick said, "Me? Well, most people called me Rick, a short for Maverick I guess, and until recently Mavi, by the way thanks" Maverick growled that, Sally simply smirked sweetly, if that's possible Maverick didn't knew.

"No last name…odd" Sally muttered, "I know" Maverick said, turning around and taking the boomstick on his hands.

"You need to go with the children" Maverick stated suddenly, "Like hell I will" Sally stated, "Sally" Maverick began.

"Listen Mavi…Maverick, I'm no longer a child, despite my current look, I have lived too long, and yes, in the past 200 years I have killed my share of aliens, they all deserved it, so I don't have qualms of suddenly pulling my gun and shooting a human, and by what I have heard of the Enclave, they deserve to be shot, so don't coddle me" Sally snapped.

"Is not coddling…is just…listen I don't want you to get hurt, these guys are serious"

"So were the aliens" Sally stated, looking around and seeing that just one old woman moving to the exit of the reservoir, they were alone now, no need to mince with words.

"Sally…they want me, and they will use any means to do so, if they got you…if they hurt you…I don't know how I can look myself in a mirror after that" Maverick confessed.

"Provided that mirrors still exist" Sally joked, "I'm serious Sally!" Maverick snapped.

"So am I! We stood against the aliens, against Lanius, against those abominations, against everything those aliens threw at us, we survived, I'm not going to let you fight alone, I came here for you, for Veronica and Sarah, accept it, I'm not going anywhere" Sally snapped, looking at Maverick straight in the eyes.

"(sigh) are you certain?"

"Positive"

"You know that we might not make it out"

"What's life without some risks?"

"This is not your war"

"Neither yours"

Maverick let out a long sigh, there was no way talking her out of this, she was as stubborn as…well him.

"If you're going to stay…at least you need some real firepower" Maverick said, not liking this at all, Sally just gave him a look as she pulled out her plasma pistol.

"I have been checking and comparing various plasma pistol models with mine, this baby here was made before the bombs fell Maverick" Sally began, enjoying the incredulous look of Maverick, "I know, crazy, but my time…there was a lot of conspiracy theories and secrets, the Enclave and aliens existence simply confirmed what many paranoids believed at first" Sally mentioned.

"For a pre-war piece of tech, even more advanced than laser weaponry and clearly experimental, this gun is rather powerful and stable, albeit a little heavy" Sally confessed, "The 'Novasurge' project', according to a terminal nearby where I found the plasma gun, was part of a covert project to create more advanced weapons, lasers were good, problem was that lasers can be reflected, they are, in essence light, plasma can't be reflected, so this came to be" Sally said.

"Plasma weaponry didn't saw much usage unlike laser during the anchorage campaign and the invasion to China, mostly for its experimental nature…then again power armors are experimental technology as well, and so its Prime…and pretty much every bit of pre-war tech people use nowadays" Sally mussed.

"Anyway, this gun is enough to put a hole in a power armor, so don't worry, besides" Sally began, "I haven't pulled all my tricks out of my bag of secrets" she added with a smirk, turning around, "I'll be back, you better be here" she warned as she walked away, Maverick by his part rose an eyebrow, then sighed, he could take on Deathclaws, rip the heads of Super Mutants, barely feel bullets and pull out someone's intestines and use them as a jump-rope, but he could never, never, be able to disobey an order of Sally.

_**11:56 PM…**_

"Contacts, lots of them!" the sole mention of contacts caused every knight, paladin and scribe to spring into action, Sarah, leading part of the Pride, as the other part couldn't catch up fast enough to rejoin in the Citadel.

"I want a visual, now" Sarah commanded, she was glad Gallows and Dusk were with her alongside Gunny, two of the best snipers the Pride had would thin whatever was approaching, not to mention what she had heard of the scribes, Sally had been good on her word (she hadn't doubted that for a second) and the turrets had been upgraded to a level no one expected, even better, they worked with the same energy output, to the scribes, this was unnatural, to Sarah it was not odd, she had seen Sally pulling out technical miracles out of her sleeves every time she lays her hands on a computer.

As she approached one of the monitors that was connected to a camera to the outside world, she gasped in utter shock, when Sally told them the Enclave was going all out she thought only soldiers and Vertibirds, maybe experimental weapons and vehicles, the Enclave seemed to enjoy pulling experimental vehicles out.

She didn't expect to see this however, the horde, crossing the bridge.

The name was fitting, it was accurate, and they were many.

Aptly called the 'Gary' horde, these individuals were equal in appereance to one another, all shouting 'Gary' in different tones and inflexions, whispers, screams, all they said was Gary, even in death, armed with whatever they could find, pipes, rocks, pieces of glass acting as makeshift knifes, sometimes handguns, and in rare occasions with military ordinance, and very able to use it.

It didn't help either they were on their boxers, the guy who gave the idea to Eden about using the Gary clones must have thought it would be hilarious to send and army of boxer clad clones against its enemies, psyche them up must have been his argument to convince the president.

Turns out it worked…bizarrely enough.

They were clones, made out of the genetic material of a man called Gary, this had lead to the death of every resident of Vault 108, when the Enclave found it, it was just a matter of cleaning house, in the most literal sense, when the clones were killed, they seized the vault, began using its installation and created Gary clones, grew them up to adult size and implanted god knows what crap so they didn't turn on its new masters.

The Enclave could make as many as needed, a hundred, a thousand, all were cannon fodder, and the first wave of attack of the Enclave.

"Prep the turrets; I want the Enclave pass over a road of corpses to get to us!" Sarah commanded, "Dusk, Gallows, get to the catwalks and start snipping them and anything that approaches trough the bridge, Rothchild, ready Prime!" Sarah commanded, looking around the labs and seeing several knights, leaders of their own squadrons, waiting for her orders.

"Everyone, get to your posts, they want us, they will have to work hard for it" Sarah snarled, that was enough for the knights, her order was clear, kill anything that was Enclave.

Looking at the monitors, she let a small smile play on her lips, the turrets were reducing the Gary horde to nothing else but piles of burned flesh and ash, sometimes a little bit of both, Sally had done superb on her job, those turrets wouldn't have done as much damage as they are doing now.

Still they had to see Liberty Prime and whatever the Enclave might be packing against them, she bets her armor that the horde is just the tip of the iceberg.

As if the world was proving her right, she began to see in the monitors several Vertibirds and Enclave soldiers marching on the bridge, passing the corpses of the Gary horde, it would surely disturb them to no end, and she admitted, seeing the soldiers being gunned down by the powered turrets from afar was satisfactory, it was giving them some breathing space.

"Sentinel Lyons" a knight suddenly called behind her, turning around she spotted the knight, looking rather apprehensive, as if afraid of telling her something.

"Yes knight Guile" she said, "Uh…well…you see…the vault dweller…Maverick that is, he is currently on the reservoir alongside with the child he brought" Knight Guile said, making Sarah raise an eyebrow.

"What is he doing there?" she asked, "We do not know but he believes that the Enclave might try to enter from the blocked ramp, so he evacuated the tribals there to the upper floors" Knight Guile said, expecting Sarah's outburst.

It never came, instead he received a raised eyebrow from Sarah instead, "Maverick wouldn't do things randomly, he always had a reason…he must know something" Sarah mussed, looking around and spotting Veronica, marching to the wandering scribe and tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Sarah? What do you need?"

"You know why Maverick is on the reservoir?" Sarah asked, it was a long shot, but of all the people around, Maverick only trusted her, Veronica, Sally and her father alongside with Cross, to an extent.

"Maverick picked some signals on his pip-boy, signals of other pip-boys, he followed them up to the reservoir, he believes that they might blow the wall and enter in force an attack us from behind" Veronica said, making Sarah nod her head, it was a reasonable strategy, and she had learned that the Enclave can be resourceful when they want to win.

"Star Paladin!" Sarah yelled, catching the attention of her father's left hand, "I need you to coordinate the defenses, Maverick thinks we might get blindsided, I think he is onto something, gonna back him up" Cross nodded at Sarah's request, seeing how Sarah ran away of the labs, her steps surely taking her to the reservoir.

Her pace was brisk, and even on the lower levels she could hear the sound of lasers being fired, then of missiles, and how the Citadel slightly shook, they were now aiming to the Citadel sturdy walls, they were serious on bringing them down, alongside with the Citadel.

Re4aching the entrance of the Reservoir she found herself surprised to see Sally alongside Sally, she found this odd because while the little 200 year old girl had been fundamental on their escape, was able to pull her weight in a fight and could fire without hesitation, this was a situation clearly different from the one back on the ship, that time Sally was on her element, and this was clearly not her element.

The bandoleer she was wearing on her torso and the plasma handgun on her hand, on the other hand, seemed to indicate that Sally was not willing to let this little detail stop her, especially if she was here to do something.

"Sally, what the…" Sarah began, only to Sally to raise her hand, her face still focused on the wall that had once been the parking lot entrance.

"They're coming" Sally stated casually, shifting her gaze to Maverick, "How many?" she asked.

"Seventeen…no, make that eighteen" Maverick hissed, lifting The Boomstick and setting the power to max, "eighteen? Not exactly an army" Sally mussed, "Are you sure those Betties will work?" Maverick asked, eyeing the ground, Sarah there noted that the ground in front of them had been recently moved.

"Positive, special Betties made by yours truly with a special flavor, courtesy of Elliot" Sally commented, seeing Sarah now at her side, looking not happy at all.

"Before you start chewing my head off, must remind you I'm your senior for over 2 centuries" Sally spoke casually, looking up at Sarah, "Besides, sooner or later this was bound to happen, The Enclave is old world organization, what better way to end with an old world hand" Sally stated.

Sarah just gave a long sigh, then pulled her Tommy gun, "They are coming for you" Sarah observed, "I know" Maverick replied, hefting the Boomstick and readying up.

"Whatever you do, don't go forward yet" Sally warned, "Something I should know about?" Sarah asked, "Yeah, minefield" Sally explained shortly, that was enough for Sarah who now waited with the odd duo.

Minutes seemed to drag on endlessly, waiting, but in reality just two minutes after Sarah arrived passed before the wall was blown away, the explosion was strong enough to make several of the make-shift houses to topple down, the debris covered the recently moved ground, Sarah had to admire that little boon, now whoever entered was not going to know of the minefield being laid there, thank god for small mercies.

Her good mood ended as soon as it came when she saw four figures emerge out of the hole, recognizing each one of them, just like Maverick did.

"Susie, Freddie, Amata…Big George?" the last one came more as a question than a statement, Sarah recognized the first three, the bitch who killed Dan, the assassin of ghouls Freddie, and who can forget his girlfriend, Susie 'big boom' her nickname associated to her tendency of using explosives in everything, emphasis on everything.

The other guy was new to her, apparently there were those in Vault 101 that didn't take many missions like the others, this guy, this 'Big George' made honor to his name, standing over 6.5 inches high, with a bulk comparable to the one of a Super Mutant, the dark skin, the bald head and the neutral look, alongside the Tesla power armor on and the minigun on his hands, the guy made look Maverick like a small fly, yet again so did Lanius, and Maverick blew his knees and made an engine fall on his head.

"You know the big guy?" Sarah asked, seeing how the four dwellers, Amata included, stared at Maverick and his attire, or his gun, or a mixture of both.

"George Bigalow, the nickname is kinda obvious, but don't let it intimidate you, he is the most pacifist vault dweller you'll ever met, sans me" Maverick stated, only to hear Amata snort.

"Pacifist?" she asked snarky, "When people are out for your blood…you become someone else out of necessity" Maverick said, hefting the Boomstick at the direction of the dwellers.

"If you think you four can go beyond this point you got another thing coming" Maverick snapped, "I don't fear your-"

**BOOM!**

Amata stopped mid-word when Maverick fired the boomstick, her hair was blasted back and some pieces of concrete fell around her, looking up, like the rest, she saw with wide eyes that a hole of the size of her torso had been made to the roof, pure concrete reduced to nothing in less than a second.

"I'm done playing games Amata" Maverick snapped, "If I wanted I could fire at you four, no mercy…no survivors, no bodies to retrieve either, you would be reduced to fine red paste of meat and twisted metal, so do yourself and your people a favor, turn back now, close the vault and lose the key in the process, this war has enough deaths to add yours and those on Vault 101" Maverick snarled, now aiming the Boomstick to the dwellers, just like Sarah and Sally where aiming their own guns at them.

"While I would hate to not skin you alive for what you did to Dan and my people, I agree with Maverick, you don't hold a candle against him, back off" Sarah snapped her gun trained to Amata's direction.

Sally simply stared at the dwellers, noting the Tesla coils springing into life on their shoulder pauldrons, she smirked, "You really think that little defense is going to stop discharges out of my gun or Sarah's or a 5mm round being shot out of a barrel surrounded by 25 magnetic coils separated by 1mm each propelling the round to untold ballistic speeds capable of turning any, and I mean, any target into a pile of nothing" Sally snapped, "Considering that he has the gun at full power and over 200 rounds on the magazine, I can say, you guys are screwed in so many ways is not funny" Sally ended.

"You're wrong, is so funny you actually forgot to laugh" Sarah joined in, actually smirking on how the dwellers looked so uncomfortable with the odds, maybe it was three to god knows how many, if Maverick's HUD was led to believe, to eighteen, it didn't matter anyway, a superhuman with a super weapon, a highly trained soldier with state-of-the-art (for their times) power armor and a prodigy with more aces on her sleeve than a cheater on a caravan game would surely do against anything they might throw at them.

"I haven't come all this way to get shot Mr. Hartigan" Sarah perked up, the voice was all too familiar, it should be, it was broadcasted almost religiously on Enclave radio, the 'radio of America'

Out of the shadows emerged a man, dressed in a clean Pre-war business man, with a red tie, his face was filled with wrinkles, Maverick gave the man at least sixty years of continued existence and stress, as the wrinkles could attest to, he was bald, and had blue eyes, eyes that were behind a pair of glasses, the man carried himself with pride, head held high, and Maverick wagered with some arrogance.

"Hartigan?" Sally wondered out loud, "Where have I heard that name before?"

"You have heard of the disappeared astronaut of Clarabella 7? I am impressed" the man said, much to Sally's shock and utter horror.

"Oh god, Maverick! You're descendant of an astronaut!" she exclaimed loud enough, "Of course he is, his ancestor was a colonel back in 1960s, vanished without a trace on a low orbit space flight alongside his capsule, Clarabella 7, left a widow and two children, your line stems out of the youngest of the good colonel, after his oldest brother crashed his own car in a illegal drag-race in 1967, at the age of seventeen" the man said.

"_Not to mention that Colonel Hartigan was abducted by aliens, beaten to unconsciousness and then woke up without his arms, legs, spleen and his heart was beating 3 feet out of his chest cavity"_ Sally reminded herself grimly, it was one of her first memories after abduction seeing the aged man, begging for release of his tortured life, the first thing she did when she first broke out of her cell the first time was to do that exactly.

"_A small world indeed" _she thought, the odds of meeting a direct relative of that same man was astronomical, so were the odds of survival of many of Mavericks' enhancements, but here he was, alive, and related to the man no less.

"Ah…the niece of Robert House" Sally instantly tensed up, bringing her weapon to bear and aiming it to the man, "It is odd, you were ten the day the bombs fell, yet you haven't aged a bit" the man drawled slowly, almost amused.

"Amazing what some Xeno tech can do for you two" Maverick and Sally froze on the spot, and so did Amata, "Oh don't look at me like that, I am the president of this great nation, everything was open to me, even its darker secrets…do you want to know who killed JFK?"

Maverick and Sally breathed deeply, eyes burying on the man that called himself president, Sarah by her part could only be amazed how intense the stare of Sally was, if looks could kill…

"Who are you?" Maverick hissed, "I am glad you asked, I am the elected president of this glorious nation, John Henry Eden, and I come with a proposal to you, Maverick Hartigan" the man introduced himself, Maverick by his part kept his gun trained to them.

"I have heard interesting stories about you from your friend Amata" Eden began, "I bet, surely most of them of how I supposedly killed her boyfriend, who I guided to her in the first place" Maverick stated, the ground shook and dust fell of the ceiling, like thuds, gigantic steps.

"Yes, I bet it would have, in times past, made an excellent soap opera, and your current life one of science fiction of the likes captain cosmos writers would have envied" Sally slightly rose an eyebrow, how this guy knew all this, it was impossible, nearly…inhuman.

"I come, as I stated before, with a proposal, an olive branch if you will" Eden began; Sarah would have fired if it wasn't Sally shaking her head to her.

"You have great potential Mr. Hartigan, even before we honed the ones of the inhabitants of 101, your father might not have told you all the truth"

"I know I was born in the wasteland, I understand why he lied, all to protect me" Maverick stated, "Perhaps, but do you know that he is in fact a vault dweller, even before he came here with your mother?" That caught Maverick's attention.

"Vault 21 was his home, deep into the bowels of Las Vegas, a city of sin and decay, oh how I wished it was nuked to hell, but it seemed Robert House has his own ways to prevent its destruction" Sally perked at that.

"At the matter at hand, we need you" Maverick rose an eyebrow at that confession of Eden, "You, for the lack of better words, are the link, the chain needed to find your father, the creator of such magnificent project, altruist, magnificent, but incomplete" Eden began.

"He holds the key to the future, our future" Eden added, "Project Purity is the final solution to the rampant mutations that run across this great nation, I believe you have seen them around the wasteland, running rampant and uncontrollable, breeding like cockroaches, we have a solution" Eden continued, not minding the three guns aimed at him that could reduce him to nothing that could fill his shoes.

"Imagine Project Purity active, free water, for any and all…everyone drinking it, even the mutants" Maverick didn't like where this was going, "With just a small modification on the feeding system, it can distribute a modified version of the purified water, water to the pure, anyone would die within hours after consumption" Eden finalized, Maverick and Sarah looked horrified at this, while Sally sneered, something odd for her ten year old face.

"You're sick and depraved, your whole organization is sick!" Sally snarled, "That's not a solution, that's genocide!" Sally snapped.

"If some people have to die for the pure to rise so be it" Eden calmly stated.

"World War II started just like that, you can sweet talk it all you want, but the harsh truth is that you want to just kill…first I blow Project Purity that let you do that" Maverick snapped, seeing how Eden sighed.

"I see your moral compass is not updated, this time require harsh actions, what you might consider genocide is simply mercy killing, what you think is conquering is to us bringing law and order to the land, America was forged on the blood of both good and bad men, if that's what needed to bring back this nation back to its glorious roots, so be it, let history dictate who was right and who was wrong" Eden stated confidently.

"You all know that the winners always write history, right?" Maverick drawled off, a disappointed look on his face, "You four…you really want to follow through this?" he asked.

"It's the only way, our vault held the best…the superior, this world is for the strong" Susie said firmly, there Maverick saw that while there were those who didn't wanted to do anything with the conflict, still believed in this…ideal.

"So you musters your symbols against us" Maverick whispered, but in the empty place, everyone could hear him, "You changed…for the worse, war never changes…and when people don't learn of the past, so do they, remain unchanged" he stated, seeing a lone floating orb of metal with antennas around it.

"And eyebot" Sarah summarized, "You transmitted this to Vault 101…to show them that I could be reason with" Maverick hissed.

Eden just nodded at that, "That I have, and I'm quite disappointed with you, I hope we wouldn't resort to violence" the president stated.

Maverick's answer to Eden's plan was aim the boomstick at him, "Like Sally said, you disgust me, now fuck off, or I blow you off, and it's on that very sense of the word, I WILL blow you up" Maverick hissed, not missing the disappointed look of Eden and George.

"Maverick, please reconsider, this might be your only chance to return to the vault" George tried to reason with Maverick, "Back? To the lies? To the isolation? To a dull life where we will never make a difference? To a leader who overreact for everything? I don't think so George, the people there had made their opinion clear, they want me dead, they don't want me close of the vault, I'm an outcast, I don't belong to the vault…but don't worry" Maverick stated.

"I'll be back there" Maverick said, gazing at Amata, "I haven't forgotten what has happened there…I haven't forgotten what your dad did to Jonas, to the Holdens, he will pay, and so the guards that gunned them down" Maverick hissed, Amata's blood boiled with that remark.

"I don't forget, I don't forgive" he finalized, Amata would have charged and fired her plasma rifle hadn't been for the fact Eden began to walk away.

"I am disappointed Maverick, I really am, I hoped you and your little friend would come, sharing your secrets with us willingly…I guess we have to do this the hard way" Eden said, his back given to the trio, "Kill them all, and bring me their bodies"

"With pleasure" Amata hissed, already advancing to the minefield as Eden left, Sarah was surprised when she saw Amata pass without harm the minefield.

"Don't worry, it's there for a reason" Maverick said, seeing how the four dwellers advanced, at the same time, Sarah eyes focused on the hole Eden left, and then at the incoming beings.

Two Deathclaws, five power armored super mutants and twenty Gary clones with leather armors and shotguns.

"Oh hell" Sarah said, already pivoting away of her spot alongside Sally, ducking on a makeshift wall, Sarah noted then the small detonator Sally pulled out of her pockets, and it dawned her, even more as why Maverick didn't move with them, and received the plasma bolts without even flinching.

Yet she didn't like it, they could take down those dwellers if Sally pressed the trigger.

"Wait for it" Sally stated, like reading Sarah's mind and intention.

The mutants and clones were getting closer, and so the intensity of the shots.

"Wait for it" Sally repeated, whatever plan those two had it better be good.

The literal army passed of the hole on the wall and sprinted full force, the Deathclaws taking head, leaving the clones and enforcers on an even pace.

Right in the middle of the minefield.

Sally then pressed the trigger, then out of the ground and dust, at least ten black mines jumped out, all whizzing out and spinning, Sarah was entranced by this, and so the Gary clones…

Then the mines exploded, letting out a white mist that expanded fast, covering the entire minefield.

"NOW!" Sally scream was punctuated when Maverick raised the boomstick and fired to the Deathclaws, the overpowered blasts tearing the beasts apart in two, their torsos flying away as their legs gave in and fell to the ground.

The dwellers didn't stop their charge and shot either, they only did when Maverick aimed the boomstick to the ground and began to fire at it, each shot making a crater and raising dust, the dwellers stopped their charge immediately once they lost visual contact with Maverick.

That lasted over two seconds before a heavy 'thud' alongside metal sound filled their ears, and then fast steps, looking up Amata and Susie had little time to move away when Maverick rushed past them, George and Freddie weren't so lucky, Maverick reached for them, hands bare of the massive gun, gripping them by the chest plate, lifting them up and rushing to the minefield, to Amata's horror, once the mist was dissipated, she could see what had happened to their reinforcements.

The Gary clones and the enforcers had been, for the lack of better words, frozen solid, right in their poses, Amata could only stare in shock at that, the little girl had play them, had always been her plan, cut the main force and leave just stragglers.

Her musings were cut short when several laser shots made her recoil, the Tesla coils on her armor absorbing some of the damage, but the fire rate of each shot overwhelmed the coils defenses, the plates now taking the brunt of the attacks, then her face did so when Sarah rushed at her tossed her rifle and punched her square on the nose, making her cry in pain as blood spurted out of her broken nose.

Susie looked in surprise at this, they had planned an ambush…no, the girl had planned an ambush, Maverick was just one of her instruments of destruction…

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Susie screamed as a plasma bolt actually brushed her cheek and burned the skin and muscles, reaching to cover her cheek she gave her back to Sally who was advancing at her, a silver baton clacking with electricity in her hands, then she slammed it on the back of Susie knees, an electric current that fried the servos of her power armor and made her scream in pain as she fell to her knees, there she was only able to see Sally actually jump at her, baton poised, and then her head burst into pain like no other, then nothing else.

George and Freddy could only gape at the scene before them, the leader of Lyons Pride was enacting her revenge on Amata, and a little girl had brought down Susie.

They had little time to ponder anything else as they felt their backs hit several of the frozen clones and enforcers before they were brought to the ground, hard, their armors groaning upon the impact to the concrete, then they were released.

Freddie was the first to stand up, only to gap when Maverick punched him on the gut, Freddy immediately doubled over and vomited blood, the metal bended on his stomach made the sensation a lot worse.

Maverick rose both of his arms and was about to slam them both on Freddie's back when George wrapped his arms around his torso, lifted him up and began to squeeze, "I will not let you murder more!" George bellowed.

Maverick just rose his feet and slammed it to the left knee of George, the crunch of metal and bone was coupled with George's scream of pain, the large man released Maverick a grave mistake as Maverick turned and slammed both his fists in a hammer like strike to George's armored chest, the 6'7 inch tall man was propelled to the air like if he was made out of rags and glass, and crashed on one of the houses, this one collapsing on him.

Maverick would have continued with Freddy hadn't been for the fact something tackled him, caught off-guard and off balance he was brought to the down, looking up he spotted an enclave trooper, clad in what Maverick identified as the Hellfire armor, with a power fist that had two cannons on top of the fist.

"Retrieve and retreat" the solider stated, raising his arm to punch Maverick, Maverick instantly rose his hand and grabbed the fist, crushing it along the way, the soldier screamed in pain, the gurgled in even more pain when Maverick kicked him away.

Standing up, Maverick saw five hellfire armored individuals, including the one he kicked away, one of them pulling an unconscious Susie, all while Freddy was trying (with no success) to help George out of the rubble, then abandoning him when one of the troopers moved him away.

"AAAHHHHH" his gaze then turned to Amata and Sarah, the sentinel had her face set out on righteous fury, and a small smirk was formed on her lips, her right hand was coated on blood, all while Amata was clutching the right side of her face, blood pouring out.

"My eye! You bitch!" Amata screamed stumbling around, this allowed one of the soldiers to move her away, guiding her towards the hole they came from, "No you don't!" Sarah snarled, she would have gone and attack them hadn't Maverick stopped her.

"Let her go! Is not worth it!" Maverick said, seeing how the enclave soldiers left, not second later rocks began to basically rain out of the hole, blocking the entrance and exit, surely explosives set to cover their exit.

Sarah simply snarled, shrugging Maverick's grip on her, "I'm okay, I'M OKAY!" she screamed, "I pulled one of her eyes out, that is enough…for now" Sarah snapped, Maverick didn't commented on this, simply walked to the boomstick and picked it up.

"Let's go topside, they might need us" Sally suggested, eyeing the fallen vault dweller under the rubble.

"Yeah, George won't go anywhere the way he is now" Maverick said, guiding both girls away of the reservoir.

Not a minute later they were gone, a lone eyebot made its way out of some rubble it was hiding, if it had a face, the eyebot would have a face of relief.

Not a second later after that the eyebot was blown apart, "I knew I was forgetting something" Maverick muttered as he turned away, this time for good.

_**Topside…**_

The moment they arrived to the labs, they noticed that Liberty Prime was missing, and so many of the knights that were there once.

"Someone can give me an update?" Sarah asked, grabbing the first scribe that she came across.

"We are holding on, Prime is proving to be a great asset, we tried to deploy it out of the Citadel but the crane was blown in the initial attack, it is trapped within the walls" the scribe said, only to hear Sally snort.

"You guys are hopeless, Maverick" Sally began, "Go outside, once near scream 'la-li-lu-le-lo, patriots override sigma 24' It will grant you control of Prime, tell him to tear the walls down if needed and carve a way up to the Jefferson Memorial, Eden won't commit genocide while we can do something about it" she hissed, the scribe was about to protest, but Sarah just shook her head to him.

"Let them do the work, let's focus on covering their asses" Sarah said, joining at Maverick's side.

Sally noted how silent the place was, surely the walls where muffling much of the sounds of gunfire and explosions, and while she could feel the thuds that Prime's steps made, it was nothing compared to the silence felt.

"I don't like this, is too quiet for a warzone" Sally muttered worriedly, "We know, they stopped attacking about two minutes ago, we shot many of their vertibirds down with the turrets and Prime has been a great help" Rothchild said with great pride.

"But as stated before, the crane is down, and I really don't endorse the option of tearing a section of the Citadel to do so" Rothchild stated.

"Is either that or let Eden carry his plans, you don't know what he is truly planning, we do, we heard him of his mouth…he came here" Maverick said, startling Rothchild and every scribe there.

"He was…here?"

"Yep, he tried to talk me into joining them and find my father for them, blew them up" Maverick said casually, "guys listen we don't have-"

**BOOM!**

If Sally was worried about the silence, they were well justified, because soon a cacophony of explosions began to rock everyone's ears and try to take them off their footing.

"They are shelling us!" Sally screamed, leaning on a desk for support as dust began to fall of the cracks on the ceiling and the steel beams groaned with an unholy shriek.

"They want to bring the Citadel down!"

"The hell they will!" Maverick screamed, instantly rushing to the outside, there he could see that the situation was as bad as it sounded.

Each time the Citadel shook, a huge chunk of it was blown away, and while he was on the inside, he could still see the flames going up on the outside walls alongside pieces of concrete…

**BOOM!**

Maverick was suddenly thrown away to a wall by an explosion, blood spraying around alongside gore, as he recovered some sense he could see that the blood and gore was not his, but rather of some knights that had been standing near him and by mere causality had been hit by one of the shells.

Standing up he saw Liberty Prime, in all its magnificent and frightening glory, shoot laser out of its 'eyes' to the entrance of the Citadel to the courtyard, and he soon saw why.

Several of those clones began to pour out of the hole that was suddenly made by an explosion when he was down, what disturbed him was not how they intoned 'Gary' like a war cry or a lullaby, but the fact all of them were nearly naked, attacking with nothing else but their fists, they were no match to the few knights inside, but that changed once Enclave soldiers began to enter.

Shaking his head, Maverick looked for the boomstick, seeing it lying near him, with one of the cannons blown apart and the trigger was basically non-existent now.

"Dammit" he growled, pulling OWB and opening fire on the armored enclave soldiers, two shots and two soldiers dropped dead with gaping holes on their chests, already he could see that firing both rounds in rapid succession had made the barrel slightly red, whatever this Saturnite alloy is, it absorbed heat like a sponge absorbs water.

Reaching for the kinetic axe, he activated it and swung it to the nearest clone he had in reach with his left arm, the effect was like Sally described the axe energy blade didn't sliced the living being, but rather, with the inherited strength behind the blow was transferred, sending the clone flying, all while covered in red small bolts covering his body, then crashed on a wall with a sickening 'splat'

Now armed, and slightly pissed as how this was turning, he began to advance, firing OWB one more time and dropping another soldier before holstering it and focusing on melee his way onto the entrance.

* * *

><p>"Shell them to hell, send every shell to them, I want that place turned a crater!" Amata growled, turning her glare to the nearest crew working on the Howitzers, four M119 siege class howitzers, planted firmly near building roofs, the first three, the last one, the one near her was planted near the bridge and the beachside, like the rest the crew of seven was working overtime to keep up with the insane amount of fire they were ordered to fire, they wanted the Citadel turned a crater, but four howitzers wouldn't cut it, it would take them an hour of continued attacks to actually do such a feat, this was the Pentagon to begin with, and in 2020 its outer structure was reinforced to withstand nuclear attacks, the fact it was standing up showed those improvements did worked.<p>

"Yes Ma'am!" but this was Amata the crew recognized, the woman had a temper, and no one wanted to incur on such temper, which had gotten worse ever since the other dweller had returned…

"Hey!" one of the crew yelled, "Look!" he shouted, pointing at the entrance of the Citadel, one of the shells of the howitzers had opened a hole in that precise point, allowing entrance to the clones and soldiers that were being butchered by the turrets on the top of the Citadel, not to mention the vertibirds that were being shot down by some sort of blue laser of immense power, capable of slicing them in half.

But what they were seeing was beyond surreal, it was impossible, the walls began to cave in, something was pushing its way out of the Citadel.

Then they fell, massive pieces of masonry and metal falling and crushing clones and soldiers alike, mostly clones, the clones were replaceable, the soldiers not so much.

It was that came out of the hole that froze the howitzers crews and soldiers alike, it was, in layman terms, a massive robot, no words could describe it better, a 50 feet tall humanoid robot, taller than any behemoth ever sighted, and perhaps even stronger than a Behemoth.

"No" Amata stated, slowly walking away of the howitzers, "Fire…FIRE!" she screamed, and soon the howitzers where opening fire to the massive robot, each shell impacting on the robot's massive bulk…without success.

"**COMMUNIST SCUM!" **The robot bellowed, even upon the noise of explosions, its voice outshined it all.

"**BETRAYERS OF AMERICA, FEEL THE WRATH OF A NATION!"** the robot screamed, suddenly reaching for something behind its back, then pulling out a nuke, readying on its hands and taking the pose of a football player about to launch the ball.

"Oh, no way!"

"**GOING LONG!"**

As the robot launched the nuke with incredible strength, the crews of the howitzers and soldiers near could only stare numbly at the incoming nuke, and mutter one single, at the same time-

"Fuuuuuuu-"

**BOOM!**

Maverick stared with some satisfaction as the nuke Prime launched, exploited and caused the buildings where the howitzers were placed began to fall under their weight and power of the explosions, 200 years old buildings are not exactly the best place to be when a nuke goes off, then again nowhere really is.

As the buildings fell and raised a wall of dust and rocks, Maverick turned to Prime, and spoke loud.

"PRIME! TIME TO MOVE, MOW EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT FRIENDLY ON OUR WAY!"

"**YES GENERAL!"**

Apparently using the code Sally gave him, made him, in Prime's optics and advanced AI, a General.

Maverick soon began to jog his way towards the bridge, Prime following him, his gigantic steps covering easily the distance he was making.

"Hey wait up!" Sarah snapped, she and a small group of knights followed him and Prime, but unlike Maverick, they weren't going to join him in front of 50 feet tall war machine that could actually step onto them was not exactly their highest priority.

Seeing how Prime and Maverick would tear the place apart on the other hand…

As the massive robot and Maverick made its way to the top of the bridge, the knights and Sarah a little far behind, didn't saw what Maverick was seeing, the whole bridge length was full of metal barricades, soldiers entrenched there, ready to fend off Maverick, on the middle of the bridge two metal poles at half the height of Prime stood up, a blue energy barrier formed between them.

"**TARGET ASSESMENT, 55 INFANTRY SOLDIERS ON UNKNOWN POWER ARMOR MODEL BEARING ENERGY BASED WEAPONRY, POSIBILITY OF HINDRANCE 0 PERCENT" **Prime bellowed, if what it said was not enough to make the enclave soldiers bristle up, the next thing did.

"**SECONDARY TARGET ASSESMENT, TITANIUM ALLOY POWERED BY PHOTONIC RESONANCE, CHANCES OF HINDRANCE…0 PERCENT"**

"FIRE!" the ego of the soldiers was enough hurt, as they began to fire, the night was lit with the amount of lasers and plasma bolts discharged at Liberty Prime, some fired at Maverick, but since he wasn't such a big target most of them ended up hitting Prime or empty space.

"**HOSTILITIES CONFIRMED, COMMUNIST SCUM, YOUR BODIES WILL FERTILIZE AMERICAN SOIL!" **Prime screamed as it rose its arms, and out of the forearms, twin mounted Vulcan machineguns emerged out, then they began to spin at the same time.

"**HERE'S SOMETHING! COMPLIMENTS FROM UNCLE SAM!"** Then lances of fire basically erupted out of the spinning barrels, each round impacting the ground or a metal barrier and opening holes or burning chunks out of the concrete, the soldiers had it worse.

The incendiary rounds fired by Liberty Prime were fast enough and big enough to pierce the power armor plating with ease, not to mention the amount fired made this a deadly rain of lead, the soldiers were, literally torn apart as Maverick and Prime advanced, the knights and Sarah not far behind, seeing the massacre unfold before their eyes.

The surviving soldiers, in anger after seeing their comrades being cut down so brutally by the soulless machine, opted to attack its handler, Maverick.

The first one that made it past Prime's deadly lead rain was welcomed with a kick to the stomach of Maverick, followed by a blow of the kinetic axe at full force, the soldier's head cracked open when it met the ground, even with the helmet on, not to mention how his back was left after the brutal blow.

Maverick suddenly recoiled when a grenade was set off near his feet, it was more like a flash than fire, as it left his ears ringing and he saw spots on his eyes every time he blinked.

He recovered fast enough to see a enclave soldier leveling a plasma rifle to his face, point-blank, Maverick ducked of the shot at a speed that surprised even him, then brought his axe down, and upward to the groin of the enclave soldier, effectively lifting him up at least a meter in the air, then falling on his back, not standing again.

"_Oh god…did I just killed him by busting his balls?"_

With that in mind, Maverick and Prime kept advancing, both laying waste on anything that came across them, until they came across the barrier, some enclave soldiers chuckled, thinking that Prime wouldn't be able to pass the energy barrier.

That ended when Prime actually grabbed each titanium staff, and ripped cleanly off the ground, **"AS STATED, COMMUNIST DEFENSE IS USELESS, YOU ARE ALL USELESS"** Prime punctuated that by actually launching both titanium ally staffs like javelins, one to a building nearby where Prime was being fired by the enclave soldiers, the other was aimed to a vertibird that got obliterated by the sheer size of the staff.

"PRIME, DOUBLE TIME, WE WON'T LET THEM KEEP THE MEMORIAL FOR LONG!" Maverick swore that after that, Prime seemed to be more vicious on its assault.

"**COMMUNIST SCUM! DISECRATING THE MEMORIAL OF A GREAT AMERICAN HERO, TRAITORS OF THE NATION YOU WILL ALL BE ERRADICATED!"**

"Dear lord! Did that dweller just gave the robot a pep-talk?" one of the knights stated in horror, Sarah just shook her head.

"Welcome to my life knight…Maverick has that effect on anything allied to him…let's move out!" she screamed, that was enough for the few knights with her to join her in their charge seeing how the 'double time' Maverick called was having its effect, they were not running trough Enclave defenses.

They were flattening everything, and what they could not flatten, they blew it up.

Sarah had to suppress a gasp of surprise, this level of destruction, something not even the vault dwellers could not match, the gasp slowly became a grin, and this was shaping to be a wonderful night to see the Enclave fall, hard.

Advancing at a brisk pace, some rookie knights could only gag at the carnage, the burning bodies within the power armors made the scene much, much worse.

"Mighty Maxson, is the Great Steel beast and its acolytes" now Sarah had the urge to beat that particular knight to a pulp, while the Brotherhood was no religious, they did had their own legends, like any other organization on the wasteland, NCR had the Vault dweller of Vault 13 basically canonized for his actions and helping in the founding of their nation, the Chosen One, last she heard, was still alive, old, but alive, and still a celebrity on NCR and feared by the Enclave.

The Great Steel beast and its acolytes, well that was a legend itself within the BOS…

Another explosion rocked her thoughts out, "Move people, they are having fun without us!" she screamed, actually running on her armor, the knights could not blame Sarah now, the dweller and the robot were basically trashing the place, and the enclave with it.

As they finally caught up with them, they saw Prime grab a fleeing vertibird with its hand, then crush it like an egg, all while his gaze was focused on two vertibirds that were firing it, then it fired a laser out of its 'face' basically slicing the vertibirds down, on the night everyone could see how cleanly the cut was, and how hot the laser was to do such thing.

And on the ground was Maverick swinging that axe of his at every Enclave soldier close enough of him, or stupid enough to get close to him, it seemed rage had clouded their judgment, attacking blindly at Maverick, approaching at arm's length and actually not realizing that Maverick was as bad, if not worse than Prime was currently, both where tearing the Enclave apart.

But everyone could see the plain truth; these were last enclave soldiers, as the amount of vertibirds on the distance could attest to.

"We…we won" one of the knights whispered, not believing what he had seen, it was just too true.

Sarah advanced at Maverick, passing several corpses of several enclave soldiers, all horribly mauled, or flattened, she believed that Prime might had step on some of them.

The amount of weapons scattered, alongside some parked vertibirds and the armor part that could salvaged of what remained of the enclave soldiers was just enough to give them an edge, but this, this…

"You made them run away" Sarah said in a whisper, right behind Maverick, the wanderer turned around, spotting Sarah, looking stunned by this.

"Yeah, the wonders of having a 50 foot tall robot armed to the teeth" Maverick said, not missing how Sarah smiled, then such smile began to grow.

"You made them run away!" she exclaimed loudly, and in front of the knights she did something everyone didn't expect, not even Maverick.

She grabbed the sides of his head and gave him perhaps the sloppiest kiss ever witnessed after the Great War, it was short, it was fast, it was so sloppy and zappy that when she pulled out, Maverick had his mouth on a permanent 'O' shape.

"You" Sarah cooed loudly, "You magnificent engine of death!" she said, her smile by now had grown to a maniacal level.

"You…you!" she said no more as she broke and actually laughed, all while walking away, Maverick just stood there, true they had won, but this was unexpected.

"…just my luck" was all he muttered as he turned his gaze to project purity, then at the visible entrance.

Looking back at Sarah, he made his decision, he needed to see what his father had worked so hard for, had abandoned him for, he needed to see firsthand so he could understand.

"PRIME! GUARD THE PERIMETER!" with that final command, Maverick walked, to what seemed, was his destiny, his family legacy.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you have it people, another chapter, and the next one will be published on February.<strong>_

_**now to adress some things it might bother you.**_

_**1) Sally actually getting bored and exploring the Big Empty with a prove, considering she is a genius, she will get bored easily, geniuses, especially one that has her brain amped out to work out at its max will get bored, so the reason she was so busy and in the lapse since Maverick left Mothership Zeta and he claling her, it was obvious boredom would get to her, and to not get bored, she began to multi-task, you think that was odd, think of the guys aboard the ship seeing her basically working on overdrive.**_

_**2) Prime's new speech, I really wished Prime had more words in ther game, i really did, the robot had such a bad-ass voice, and in Broken Steel they added several, so it was obvious I would take this liberty, let's face it people, I know you would do the same.**_

_**3) Maverick had to get a last name and a ancestor, to those who played Motherhsip Zeta, they will recognize the name, to those who don't the guy was an astronaut you find already dead right where you find Elliot, Paulson and Toshiro, yet he is able to help the group by providing his space-suit, from which he was frozen, now the reason why I gave Maverick a last name, it struck me as odd that even in game, you and James didn't get a last name, even more, there is a file where a picture of James and his wife can be seen, and it's only visible on New Vegas once you get to Vault 21, so I invented a story connector there about James and Maverick being direct relatives of the good astronaut, who is still dead in this fic.**_

_**4) the kiss scene, I really don't know if it was rushed or something, you tell me guys.**_

_**5) Eden, now i'm gonna keep that one a secret for myself, you trust me, this is going to blow your brains out.**_

_**okay, that's all for now, I leave you with this chapter, please read and review, let me know if you liked it or not, see you next month, Hypn0s signs off.**_


	12. 11: Virtual rage, real pain

_**hello my faithful readers, it is I, Hypn0s, returning with another chapter of the chornicles of Maverick, and mind numbing pain.**_

_**I apologize for the delay for this chapter, but I have been very busy working and studying, but i have been taking small breaks to end this chapter, and so far I have been very satisfied with the result, and i have also been playing mass effect 3 like crazy, so you can imagine how much time that ate up.**_

_**regardless of all that delay, I was able to give you all another chapter, since people were already wanting more, so i cna't deny them that, it would be mean, so without further delay, i give you chapter 11, enjoy my friends.**_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 11: VIRTUAL RAGE, REAL PAIN<strong>

'_Back in the day, justice was handing a bad guy to the cops so they could beat the shit out of him on jail, then toss him to a judge so he could be send to jail, where the prisoners would either beat the crap out of him or leave him be, depending of what he had done, usually rapists and child murderers got that treatment, they never got out of jail alive, these times are different however, old wild west justice, you and your gun are judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one neat package, it might sound barbaric, and it is if you turn your gun and shoot randomly, but when done righteously, it's just another chore' __Sally House._

_**Morning…**_

Elder Lyons surveyed the damage done to the Citadel, at least on the courtyard and the hole done by Prime on his way out; suffice to say that he was now both thrilled and wary of Liberty Prime.

Thrilled because now they had an edge, THE edge, the Enclave might have numerical advantage, but Prime's heavy ordinance left that a mute point, not to mention that not many things in the Wasteland can hope to match the raw strength of a 50 foot tall machine, that packs nuclear bombs and God knows what else.

Yet he was also wary, he knew that the outcasts had actually made contact with the brotherhood back at Lost Hills, and surely were observing the battle, or better said massacre, this robot could easily make any faction in the American Wasteland all powerful, and he knew the elders would want…no, demand Liberty Prime to wage war against the New California Republic, and eventually with the Legion, the less people contenting for technology the better for them.

He was wary of course, he knew them, he also knew that some people who were there would not abuse Prime, they would outright flaunt its power, others…others like Elijah…

He was clearly surprised when he learned of Veronica that she was Elijah's protégée, it might explain why she was so good, Elijah was an old world tech hound, but a little unbalanced, even before Lost Hills cut them out of support, he had heard stories about Elijah, some good, most of them bad, he didn't buy the story that he had fell during an attack of the NCR to a solar power plant called Helios One, Elijah was that stubborn to die like that.

"You are thinking too much" Owyn slightly smiled as he looked at the small girl Maverick had brought, at first he had his reservations for Maverick and his methods, they weren't refined, nor subtle, but when you have the strength to rip an Overlord in two and crush a Deathclaw's head with his bare hands, being subtle is a mute point.

"Am I?" he asked, rather amused, "Duh, can read it on your face, you're worried" Sally stated.

"I am" Owyn confessed, "While we scored a victory here, and surely we will gain even more in the following days, I am worried for the future" ha admitted.

"Lost Hills" Sally stated, catching his attention, "Veronica told me, Sarah confirmed it, you're worried those jerks back there will want Prime as their own, after all this is a branch of their power" sally summarized, "Regardless of being cut off, this is still part of the brotherhood, you're still an elder of the brotherhood, the soldiers here are knights of the brotherhood" Sally added.

"You're correct, and it worries me, we already lost many to the outcasts, they left, I let them because is not my place to force them, but I fear that Liberty Prime might trigger a Civil War among the brotherhood" Owyn admitted.

"One you would win, Liberty Prime has no equal in firepower, I admit it, Maverick would get killed by that robot even" Sally admitted, "The point is of course you don't want that"

"Of course, but what one, tired old man can do against such odds" Owyn stated, "Simple, you change them" Sally said, turning around, "The Brotherhood Of Steel is old world, this is a different world, either they change or die, Veronica told you, they might hold the numbers, but you hold the heir, and Excalibur" she finalized as she walked away, her words and meaning not lost to Owyn.

"…What a scary child"

* * *

><p>"So…this is why you left me eh?" Maverick mussed, running his hands on the glass that separated him of a muck of dirty water, if he squinted his eyes hard enough he could see the statue of Jefferson right in the middle of it.<p>

After the battle, which had lasted less than he had expected, and surely the Enclave expected, he had went straight to Project Purity, exploring the place, oddly he felt he should go first underground, this place had to had a basement, it had one, and he could see firsthand how his mom and dad had started, literally, out of scratch.

Of course he had seen telltales of the Enclave hand on some part, the infirmary was brand new of course, cleaned, stocked with medicine and blood packs on small freezers to preserve them, he found an odd sensation, like if the room was familiar to him.

As he had advanced, he saw that the place had been used before, as the bunk beds could attest to, they were clean, well, clean enough to sleep on, with several magazines and some grey jackets and hats laying around, mostly tossed around in panic it seemed, it looked like the evacuation had been too sudden and had caught them all by surprise.

The rest of the rooms were the same, either were bunks, or crates full of plasma and laser rifles, sometimes a Rocket Launcher or what seemed a laser minigun.

One room in particular caught his attention, this one had actually a safe, one that seemed had been repeatedly beaten with something heavy, and it's lock was blown, amazingly enough, it didn't open.

Well they couldn't, he could, it was just a matter of gripping the edges where they try to pry it open with a crowbar, and pull.

The door gave in almost instantly, making him fall on his butt, inside the safe he found two things, a holotape and a picture, when he had picked the picture, he was clearly surprised when he saw a black and white picture of his father alongside a woman, both clad in lab coats, his dad was missing his beard, and he looked…younger.

Out of curiosity he pressed the holotape play button, and for the first time he heard the voice of his mother.

He had repeated the recording several times, the voice of his mother…it was melodious, it was…as pretty as the picture of her he now had, albeit he could do without hearing her mom and dad prior to his making, and some of it, they forgot to turn the holotape off before his dad realized of it and turned it off, but it was enough to traumatize him, no kid in Vault 101 had been unfortunate enough to walk their parents while they are at it, he was unfortunate enough to hear them, and his brain did the rest.

After that, he just made his way upstairs, up to the Rotunda, up to the hall where most of the cables converged into, where most of the pipes were connected, the control room of project Purity, there he could see his dad's work, his vision, and ambition, he wanted it to work, he wanted the thing to work, but something was amiss, like his mom had stated, small scale experiments yielded positive results, but that was like purifying a glass of water, they wanted to purify metric tons of water, a task impossible, even before the Great War and all its advancements.

Yet his parents had got close, closer than anyone could ever get, the Enclave was here, just updating some parts, fixing parts that got damaged by abandonment, after all this place had been abandoned as long he has been alive.

"Was it worth it?" he wondered himself, still looking at the inside of the control room, dad hadn't left a clue, nothing to be traced, he was smart, too smart, the only clues he had were…

"Depressing, isn't it?" Maverick turned around, only to spot a woman in a lab coat, her black hair as messy as her looks, she looked like she hadn't slept, or ate.

"This is our dream…and our shame" she began, "I worked with your father and mother here, a dream we slowly realized piece by piece…but we still lacking one piece" she hissed.

"Uh, who are you?" Maverick asked, looking at the disheveled woman.

"Oh, sorry" the woman apologized, "These had been hard times for us all, and honestly repairing Prime before you brought your friend was eating a lot of my time" she stated, "I am Madison Li, I heard you were looking for me" she stated with a small smile, the smile being accentuated by the grime on her face, it was obvious she had been working non-stop on Prime and whatever else she could help.

"I was, still am, kinda forgot you, sorry" Maverick apologized, tucking the holotape and the picture of his parents on the trench coat inner pockets.

"I understand Maverick, your arrival was as surprising as your little friend intelligence, and it is truly scary" Madison admitted.

"Yes, things…were done to us, she is a savant supreme and I am a juggernaut" Maverick shrugged his shoulders, as accepting his condition, "Has helped a lot" he added.

"I know, I think the Enclave didn't expected your intervention, or the fact you could easily kill all they can thrown at you with ease" she stated, "but I'm not here for idle chat" she corrected quickly.

"Sarah told me you were looking for your father and Three-Dog guided you to me, to be honest at first I didn't want to help you" Madison admitted, drawing a look of shock of Maverick.

"Then I reminded myself that there are bigger things in this world, and if I didn't volunteer to help you, you would force me, and I had little doubt I could stop you" Madison began, "Besides, James would never forgive me if I didn't help the boy I helped deliver" she added, shocking Maverick.

"Yes, I delivered you, I was there when Catherine gave you birth, she was so happy, and your father was so proud, then she had a cardiac arrest, and she died, the equipment we scavenged for the birth was not suited for actually restarting her heart, I'm sorry I couldn't help her, James was devastated, the rest, I guess, is history, you can clue what happened after that" Madison said, Maverick nodded, the final piece of the puzzle in place, why his father left, that was complete.

"He told me a lot of things, comes with the territory of being his equal on mind" Madison stated, "He wanted to restart Project Purity, I told him no, to let go, he didn't, instead he told me he would look for the only man who could actually help him, a superior, a wizard of technology from back the day" Madison stated, "Does the name Stanislaus Braun rings any bells?"

"Can't say it does" Maverick confessed.

"Of course it doesn't, he is old world celebrity, he barely makes it to our days as someone worth mentioning in a trivial conversation" Madison stated, "But his name was something your father found on the Overseer files back in Vault 101, or so he told me, also, something I didn't mentioned to Lyons was that your father was looking for something else" Madison stated.

"And what could it be?" Maverick asked.

"The final piece of the puzzle that is Project Purity, he is looking for a GECK" Madison affirmed.

"…My dad…is looking for a lizard?"

"Not a Gecko, a GECK, Garden of Eden Creation Kit" Madison snapped back, "I can't believe you don't know of that, I thought you dwellers were more intelligent" she murmured.

"Well excuse me for not knowing" Maverick scowled, making Madison smile.

"Think nothing of it, I believed also that the GECK was a myth, but trust me, after today, I am open to believe every bit of crazy shit the wasteland has in histories" Madison offered.

"The GECK…that's a name you can trace back to the roots of this conflict, it is said that New Navarro was born out of the GECK, a truly terraforming device, capable of transforming dead matter onto something else, a miracle" Madison said.

"You have information of my dad and the GECK?" Maverick asked, whatever his dad wanted, the GECK was involved.

"Of course, even better, I know where they are located, but we should talk this on a more…private and secured place, this was last night, and Enclave facility" Madison stated, moving aside and motioning Maverick to follow her.

Maverick didn't had much to lose there, in fact he had little to nothing to lose, his father was close, he could feel it, he could actually count the minutes when they would meet again.

Then…then he would answer him, one thing is hearing the story from several sources, different visions of the truth, he wanted to hear the truth out of the source itself.

* * *

><p>"It was a massacre!" Autumn screamed, staring at the images of some of the cameras mounted on several Enclave soldiers, those who were alive and those whose bodies were recovered, in some way.<p>

"That Maverick is a monster!" Montgomery stated his eyes wide in shock, he wasn't staring at some sort of super-human, he was staring at the Grim reaper itself, scythe and all.

"You think that kid is bad, they have a freaking robot that tosses nukes like footballs!" a soldier snapped, the man was as shell-shocked at the rest of the soldiers who survived this battle, yes survived, they retreated as soon as Autumn gave the order, Liberty Prime was just…there was no word to describe how utterly stupid would be to try and fight that thing off.

"The president tried to talk him out of fighting, we lost George to him, Susie had to get skin graft to cure the burns on her cheeks, not that it will help, and Freddy is traumatized, not to mention this" Amata growled at the side of Autumn, an eye patch on her right eye, a raw wound still visible on her face after her face-off with Sarah.

"This was a waste of recourses, we lost too much, we lost men, we lost vertibirds, we lost guns, and we lost Project Purity" Boon snapped, tactically, Operation: Broken Steel should be called Operation: rip-off, that's what happened to them, they got rip-off, bad.

"We need to regroup; we can't fight the brotherhood with that thing now!" De Castilla didn't like that suggestion, especially since it was her who gave it, but without the orbital platform, there was no way to stop Prime, nuclear ordinance was out of the question, they were saving those for their enemies on the other side of the pond.

"We have no other option, we have to move our forces to Raven's Rock and Adam's air force base" Boon stated.

"What about Vault 101?" Amata asked, concerned by the fact they didn't included the name of her home.

"Vault 101 residents, all of them will be moved to Adam's, if the brotherhood decides to attack that place it will be worse than a massacre, it will be a slaughter" Boon replied, much to the ire of Amata.

"We won't abandon our home" she stated firmly.

"Is not a matter of abandoning it, is a matter of preservation, Maverick told you himself, he is coming, he will go to Vault 101 and kill your father and the guards that killed many residents during his breakout, and I am most certain that he will, and anything that opposes him" Autumn stated.

"I don't like it" Amata snarled, her hate for Maverick was slightly clouded for the utter hate she now felt for Sarah, the bitch who gouged one of her eyes, "I can take him out if you want, give a week and he will be dead" she added.

"He has a gun that killed two Deathclaws with one shot, not to mention that axe, the bodies we could recover show that their armors were…fried, that axe damaged the armors beyond repair, the fission batteries were burned, burned!" Boon snapped, "Do you have any idea how electricity is needed to actually fry a power armor?" he asked to Amata.

"Don't know don't care" Amata replied.

"As we stand, we only can defend one vault, our supply of clones and raw material for many of our experiments" Autumn began, cutting whatever Boon was going to say to Amata.

"Then we forfeit one vault, so we save many people" De Castilla stated.

"Correct, 108 is too valuable to lose, 101 can be lost and regained later on, 108 can't, especially its equipment" Boon said.

"Then take a page of the wastelanders and scavenge everything out of 108, then abandon it!" Amata screamed in outrage.

"Is not that simple, the amount of equipment is too much to transport in one day, let alone a week, a month would be required to do so, and I must remind you that our defeat at Project purity will be a clear sign to raiders to attack us" Autumn snapped to Amata.

"Even more so, Talon Company is still hunting for Maverick, waiting for the moment he walks away of the Citadel" There Autumn snorted, "Poor fools, they are walking to their own deaths and they don't even know it" he added with mirth laced on his voice.

"It is not important, we have to start counter-measures against Maverick and Liberty Prime" Amata snapped.

"And what do you suggest, the last Tesla Coil was taken by the brotherhood, they don't have use it or don't know how, and the APC's engines are still not updated to accept EC packs, well at least two do, the rest are still on work" Boon said.

"We lost 25% of our forces in the assault, we would have lost more if we didn't order that retreat, we lost power armor sets and a lot of weapons, plasma mostly" de Castilla murmured, "The attack was not done without FULL force, otherwise we would seeing different numbers, bigger numbers" she added.

"We lost George, morale on the vault is gonna take a deep dive, even more" Amata growled, the dead of the team she led by hunting Jackie, then Wally, Paul Jr. then it was Christine, now this, morale was going to take a deep dive, and the kids would cry for hours, George and Maverick always hanged with the children, they idolized them, now they idolized George and feared Maverick, with George out…it was going to be a nightmare.

"Do it" was all Eden muttered, looking at the assembled with a critical gaze, "I believed that Maverick could be swayed, I was wrong, relay these orders, Maverick Hartigan and his companions, Sally House and Sarah Lyons are to be gunned down on sight, once he has lead us to his father" Eden ordered coldly, turning around of the table and walking away.

No one objected these orders, Amata didn't, she knew the dangers Maverick, Sally and Sarah posed as a whole, they had to be killed, they had to be stopped, it didn't matter if it was a little child of an elder, and any obstacle to the Enclave's goals had to be removed.

No matter the cost.

* * *

><p>Sally stared at the damaged boomstick with something akin to frustration, so far every big weapon she has given to Maverick has been broken beyond repair, or blasted away, the boomstick situation was a little bit of both.<p>

She knew she could fix the massive weapon…back at the ship, where she had the parts, the machines, and of course privacy, here it was another story altogether.

Suffice to say that Maverick wouldn't be using the Boomstick much until she repairs it.

"Hey Sally what Whoa!" Veronica called, clearly surprised by the sight of the damaged boomstick, "What happened this time?" the punching scribe asked.

"Some knights told me Maverick was too near when a howitzer shell fell, he was blasted of his feet, and the boomstick took the brunt of the blast" Sally said exasperated, Veronica wasn't the first person to ask her what happened to the boomstick, or as some knights had 'intelligently' called 'You aim, they go boom' gun.

Owyn, Rothchild, Sarah, the guy called Gunny, and the insomniac scribe who seems to hate Maverick just because his mere presence doesn't allow him to sleep, had asked what happened to the gun, she has always answered them, "Maverick got to close to a shell" and she let their minds work the rest.

"Damn, he got blasted away and all that got damaged what his gun?" Veronica wondered out loud.

"I know, sometimes he being nigh invulnerable pisses me off, honestly" Sally snapped, "I mean don't get me wrong, he still duck and cover out of custom, not of necessity, but he should learn that even when he is nearly unbreakable, those around him are not" Sally added.

"You know I can hear you" Sally jumped away in sheer shock when Maverick's voice sounded behind her, looking back she spotted Maverick, arms crossed and a amused look on his face, and a dirty looking female doctor behind him, looking at her oddly.

"Dammit Maverick don't do that!" Sally snapped with a pout, turning around and looking again at the boomstick.

"You're not angry because the boomstick got damaged?" Maverick asked.

"No" Sally began, "I'm mad because the weapon we put effort in making was broken with just a howitzer shell" Sally snapped, "It should have hold more, guess didn't account stress in the frame every time it was shot" Sally mussed.

"Anyway, I can't fix the boomstick here, I didn't put in account you would break it…like the last one" Sally drawled.

"You're never going to let me live that one out are you?"

"No" Sally answered, "I don't have the parts, or the time, The Enclave might attack again, and with both of us being their targets" Sally let that one sink in.

"Both of us?" Maverick asked.

"Of course, I was there, the president saw us together, and he knows" Sally began, "He really does, he knows what is really behind my brains and your brawn, not only that, I burned one of the dwellers face off with the Novasurge and knocked her out cold, by this point Amata must have told him all what happened before your arrival" Sally stated seriously.

"Great" Maverick muttered, a little angry, mostly to himself, "Should have killed them all when I had the chance" he added.

"No point on crying over spoiled milk" Sally said, looking at the woman behind Maverick, "You found something in Project Purity?" Sally said, not missing the smile on Maverick's lips.

"I did, a picture of my parents and the voice of my mom on a holotape…alongside the first five minutes of them making me" Sally cringed at that.

"Also, Doctor Li has some clues where my dad might be" Maverick said, motioning Sally and Veronica to follow him and Li towards one of the ends of the laboratory, the one with the map of the Capital Wasteland.

"These are the vaults that were built here in the Capital wasteland, Vault 74, 76 and 77 are confirmed complete loses, they can't sustain life, and are more like gigantic tombs" Li began.

"Vault 87, according to recent recon, is a Super Mutant base, perhaps a breeding ground, its far, its entrance was hit by a nuke, irradiating the zone until these days, and since Little Lamplight fell to raiders and most of its inhabitants were sold to 101, this theory took force" Li continued.

"Vault 92 and 106 are lost as well, one is a breeding ground of mirelurks, the other, according to some scouts, has some sort of odorless drug running in the air, causing hallucinations, Vault 100 was abandoned a long time ago, all of the residents left the vault and settled in the Capital wasteland, 101…you know" Li said, taking a deep breath, "Enclave's base of operations, the third one"

"108 is a vault housing a cloning facility, the Gary clones come of there, then we have vault 112" Li said, signaling the vault in the map, "James is there, he must be, Braun was accounted as one of the many dwellers of that vault, as for the GECK, it is listed as part of the equipment in vault 87, so that one is gonna be a pain in the ass to recover" Li ended.

"Garden of Eden Creation Kit? That thing exist?" Sally asked, then shook her head, "Better yet, you just said Braun, as is Stanislaus Braun? Vault-Tec's wizard?" Sally asked again.

"I have, how do you of Braun?" Li asked.

"The guy was a genius, no doubt about that, head of Future-Tec, a division within Vault-Tec itself, but he was full of himself, so much that in one interview he nearly attacked the host for actually contradicting him, then he was send to jail, then bailed out an hour later because he actually attacked the host, by running his car over the guy, on repeated occasions, the guy barely made it out alive" Sally replied, much to Li's shock.

"And my dad went looking for that lunatic?" Maverick asked in shock.

"It seems so, he was crazy, no denying, but he was really smart, smart enough to create a terraforming device capable of disassembling matter and turning it into something new, your father must think that the GECK might hold the final piece for Project Purity" Sally stated.

Maverick by his part stared at the map, focusing his sight on both vault locations, "If I go now, it will take me…a day, maybe two non-stop to reach 112" Maverick said, "Make it less, you could ask someone to give you a ride with a vertibird, drop you in the wasteland mid-way and make the rest of the trip on foot" Sally began, "Also don't forget I will go with you" that made Maverick look Sally oddly.

"Don't look me like that, if this Braun guy left something useful that your father can't decipher, then I can help him, two brains are better than one" she added.

"Make it three brains, Father Elijah taught me a lot of Pre-war tech lingo and all that, I could help as well" Veronica added.

Maverick wanted to say something, but bit his tongue and just sighed, "Can't talk you of this" he muttered, "Okay then, I'll talk with Sarah and see if she can get us a vertibird, get ready" was all he said as he went to look for Sarah.

_**One hour later…**_

"This is as much I can help you now Maverick" Sarah called, just like Sally and Veronica, Maverick and Sarah were al standing in front of the map of the Capital Wasteland on the labs.

"I was able to convince dad to lend you a vertibird and a pilot to get you, Sally and Veronica out of D.C. ruins, and a little close of Andale, a small town on the edges of the Capital Wasteland, from there you can walk your way towards vault 112, it is a longer road, but it bypasses the need to even pass Evergreen Mills, a Raider hotspot" Sarah said.

"What are you going to do Sarah?" Veronica asked, looking at the sentinel straight in the eyes.

"We got an advantage, we gotta capitalize it, we are gonna start attacking the Enclave outposts, pronged attacks led by the Pride, Liberty Prime will be deployed as well, D.C. has to be liberated first if we want to make any progress, from there we will advanced north, hitting several bases hidden in the wasteland, until we make our way to Raven's Rock, and turn that place into scrap" Sarah snapped, "We will save 101 and Adam's according to the Enclave's resistance, to last" she added.

Maverick wanted to comment on that, but held himself, the residents of vault 101 were in too deep now, honestly the best thing he could do for them was kill Alphonse and Amata, and severely cripple the rest so they think twice about doing that again, it won't make him friends with them again, but it was that or total annihilation by the hands of the brotherhood.

"Just…promise me you will tell me when that happens, I want…I have to be present" Maverick stated, Sarah didn't comment on this because she knew what he meant, he wanted to be there, to make sure that things didn't got out of hand if worse comes to worse.

"Okay, right now they are licking their wounds, you weren't exactly gentle in your last encounter" Sarah began, "The dweller you incapacitated, Big George you call him is on the infirmary, two guards on the room and we moved anything sharp out of his hands, just a precaution" Sarah assured, "If you want, you can talk to him before you go" she added.

"Sure…I guess, don't know if will help" Maverick said, "Can you tell me where is the infirmary?" Maverick asked to Sarah.

"Better yet I'll show you, I deploy in one hour" Sarah said, motioning Maverick to follow her.

"See you on the courtyard" Maverick called to Sally and Veronica, both girls glanced at each other, then smirked.

As Maverick left the labs with Sarah, he wondered how he would talk with George, hell what he would talk about, he and George, while shared a common ground with the youngest of Vault 101, didn't exactly talked each other much, the vault wasn't big enough to avoid each other, it was just awkward, especially since George was a Tunnel Snake after the G.O.A.T. and with Butch as leader, and Maverick as their bully target, it got worse.

"We're here" Sarah called, breaking Maverick of his memories, looking up he saw a pair of knights flanking a door, on the top of the frame the words 'Infirmary' were set on a neon sign, one that had stopped working a long time ago.

"I'll wait here Maverick" Sarah called, placing a hand on his shoulder, then squeezing in assurance, "Don't worry, he is fine, despite you shattering his knee to nothing, he will walk with a limp, and Rothchild placed a special device on his Pip-boy, so no, he can't communicate with the others" she added.

"Whatever happens, you got a home here, in the Citadel, with us, a friend of the people is a friend of the brotherhood" she added as she let go and one of the knights opened the door, allowing Maverick inside.

Once inside Maverick noted that just one medic was inside, besides the bed ridden George, "Oh, hello, here to talk with our friend?" the medic asked.

"Sort off" Maverick called, walking towards George's bed, and standing bed side.

"Hello George" the man didn't said anything, despite being awake.

"The ice treatment only works when we are children" George didn't answer.

"You know…I found my father" George didn't seemed actually concerned by this, "A vault of all places, but unlike last time, he went there to find answers, to end what he started 19 years ago" Maverick continued.

"I don't hope you understand this, you are with the Enclave, they want people dead, all of them, I won't allow it" Maverick said, "My father's work…my mother's and father's work is for a good cause, and altruistic cause, I won't let the Enclave corrupt it and turn it into their new killing weapon" Maverick said, looking at the doctor, then glancing at George.

"You can ignore me all you want, but you can't ignore this, they can't stop me, no one can, not you, not Amata, no one" George's hand twitched, the first sign of activity since Maverick entered, "I really don't know what happened that night six months ago, how Marcus ended up dead, I might have an idea as of why, but that's not enough to turn Amata into a sociopath killer" Maverick said, finally turning around and walking towards the infirmary door.

"It wasn't" George suddenly said, his grave voice echoing in the infirmary room.

"Marcus death broke her, she went into shock, then into coma" he continued, "She really loved him, his death hit her hard, add that to the fact you were gone, her crying stone, without a doctor to help her or a friend to console her, she…was as good as dead" George said, "Then the Enclave came, and brought her back…but she was changed…her eyes…were full of rage, she lusted for blood, your blood" George added, turning his head to Maverick.

"No one really knows what happened to her, her extreme change took everyone by surprise, Butch, Susie, even Monica was caught off guard by this new Amata…she is more scared of her than she is scared of you" George stated.

"The only person who really knows what happened to her is her father and the president" George finalized.

"I know…I will pull the answers out of them" Maverick stated, turning around, "What I don't understand is why you allied with them, was the radroach infestation and the fires that bad?" Maverick asked.

"No, it put a strain on the Water Chip, but it wasn't enough, they came, with people, new blood, new life for the vault, we joined out of gratitude, because you and your father left death enter our home that day"

"You should watch those words Bigalow, I broke your knee with the same effort I need to step on the ground, I could easily rip your head out of your neck, it would be like opening a soda bottle" Maverick snapped, "My father didn't started this, it was the overseer, he ordered Jonas killed, the lockdown was beyond his authority, he ordered the guards to kill on sight anything that was outside the rooms, I saw a couple gunned down, my dad didn't started that, it was Alphonse and his paranoia that doomed the vault, under his rule nothing will live well" Maverick snapped.

"We keep the future safe" George replied.

"By killing families? Breaking homes? Burning towns? You can lie yourself, but you can't lie to me and the harsh truth of all this is that the Enclave are the bad guys, they murder anyone who they deem 'impure' anything that is not 'pure human' is trash to them" Maverick finalized.

"The Enclave will fall, Project Purity won't fall on their hands and be used as a weapon of mass destruction, I won't allow it, I won't" Maverick hissed walking away…

"You won't win alone" George snapped, there Maverick snorted.

"Who says I'm alone" with that Maverick walked away, leaving George and the medic in the room.

_**In the courtyard…**_

The vertibird was already waiting for them, already on, its fans spinning at a moderate rate, to warm the engine, Sally and Veronica already inside, the little child was somewhat excited to ride a vertibird, but after being on a spaceship, most vehicle riding lost its appeal compared to ride in the endless void that is space on a real spaceship.

Veronica was treating the vertibird ride the same way she did with the first one, excitement upon taking off, dullness when flying and utter fear upon landing.

That's how Maverick found them both, sitting inside the Vertibird and ready to fly, Sarah behind him.

"Okay Sally, last chance, do you really want to go?" Sally simply rolled her eyes then nodded, "You know this is a very different world, like the Wild West, you know what must be done if you get attacked, right?" Sally's answer was just making a motion of using a gun, and shooting it at Sarah, it pretty much eased Sarah, and at least Veronica and Maverick were with her.

"Okay guys, be careful, that area is raider land, keep your head down and shoot anything that looks homicidal" Sarah began, letting Maverick inside the Vertibird, "And Maverick" she called, catching the attention of the dweller.

"Bring back your old man…and then we can talk…about that, yeah" Sarah said, slightly nervous, much to the shock of the girls, even more as Maverick blushed.

"…Did you did her?" Sally asked the blunt question, Making Maverick pale and stares at her oddly, "Because if you knocked her up, then her dad will have Liberty Prime step on you and…"

Maverick was glad the vertibird took off, as the engine drowned every word that came out of her mouth, not that it helped with the ever present smile of Veronica that resembled that of the now extinct fox.

The ride for them lasted seven minutes; the pilot had told them that they had to still implement some security measures so they didn't end up on the end of a RPG and meeting the ground.

Still the ride was far smoother than the one that led him to Paradise Falls, and as before, the pilot warned them.

"Hey guys, A word of warning" he began, "Word has it, that whole zone, out of Andale up to the Yao Guai caves has some sort of fucked up raiders" the pilot began.

"That so, how messed up?" Veronica asked, considering that the Mojave Wasteland had the Fiends, raiders that were basically swimming on chems, and made them rather violent, not to say downright sadist and crazy, what could be worse than the Fiends?

"Well, for starters several scouts found several bodies nailed to wooden cruxes"

Veronica paled.

"Some of them were alive, they begged to be killed"

She began to sweat.

"The few women found were raped and killed, their heads stuck on pikes"

She lost all color on her face.

"Same with some guys…including the raping, god I puked on that one"

"Oh…shit" To Maverick and Sally, who had endured the horrible experiments of the aliens, especially to Sally, who had 200 years to basically tune out of the carnage the aliens usually partake in their experiments, it didn't bother them, Maverick seemed to be close to do the same, as he was basically a human juggernaut, little could stop him, and much that tried got mauled badly.

Veronica however, knew otherwise, this had Legion print all over it, the crucifixions, decapitations and placing their heads on pikes, violation of the survivors followed by murder, not to mention enslavement of the very few that were considered worthy of such 'honor' now there was no doubt, the legion was the capital wasteland, surely a small detachment, or the results would be as bad as the ones of the Mojave, if not worse.

Question arose of course was what the hell they were doing this far, besides Project Purity, and apparatus that Caesar would surely send to dismantle and use its parts as bases for their many knifes and armors, the Capital Wasteland held no strategic value, something was up.

It seemed Maverick and Sally had come to the same assumption, but chose not saying anything, after all they didn't want to scare their pilot.

After that revelation the vertibird landed, when the trio descended, Sally was the first to note how bad the fallout had been, the bombs hadn't destroyed the world, the nuclear fallout that followed the two hour nuclear bombardment did it.

She could hardly recognize the capital of the nation to this deformed shell, as she knew the several ravines and small mountain formation around were not natural, but where in fact a byproduct of the detonation of so many kilotons of nuclear ordinance, something she was certain, was repeated in every part of the world where the bombs fell.

As the vertibird flew away, kicking a generous amount of dust, Maverick couldn't help but to comment drily how this would surely draw attention to them currently.

"Relax" Sally began, "Better go to this Andale town, we can orient ourselves better from there" Sally said.

"Sally, in case you forgot, I got a map attached to my wrist" Maverick reminded, bringing his pip-boy to bear.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that thing has a map of the current look of D.C. cliffs and all" Sally began, "But let's be honest, guiding ourselves by a landmark is a little better" she added.

"And since when you became a survivalist expert of the wasteland?" Maverick asked.

"Could ask the same about you" she countered, Veronica by her part sighed, then tapped them both on the shoulders, catching their combined attention.

Sally simply pointed at the horizon; her finger pointed at a cliff, or rather the person on that particular cliff.

The man that stood there was clad in a similar attire to the one Maverick had, but the duster was on a desert color, and unlike Maverick, the man had a full face helmet on, a combination of a polished combat helmet with a gas mask with red lenses, on his hands the man held what seemed an oversized sniper rifle.

What caught their attention of course was the emblem on top of the helmet of the man, if Maverick saw right, it seemed like a two headed bear, in chalk.

The man stared at them, then actually motioned them to come to him with his left hand, his right hand holding the rifle.

The trio stared at each other, not knowing what to do, well Sally and Maverick didn't knew what to do, but Veronica did.

"NCR rangers…what the hell is going on here?" she wondered, shyly making her way to the ranger, Maverick and Sally followed her, since she was the only person who really knew what was going on in the Mojave Wasteland.

The trio didn't took too much time to reach the ranger, now up close they could see him in detail, noting the amount of abrasions on his armored torso, and the small camera mounted on one side of the helmet.

"Glad you three could join, one helluva entrance, be glad no legion was here to see it" the ranger began, slowly walking to them, then turning around, making his way to the other end of the cliff, then kneeling.

"See that town over there?" the man said, Maverick joining him and kneeling at his side, seeing on the riff of the cliff, down, a small town, surprisingly, two houses were intact in a block of over ten houses, the rest was destroyed, either by the blasts, or time.

"Yeah, see two perfect looking houses, wait, make that three houses" Maverick began, Sally and Veronica joining him, "And…is that a shed?"

"Yep, and let me tell ya, there is some weird shit down there" the ranger began, "I arrived here last night, after the message of the guy who blew up and Enclave base with their own toys…gotta hand it to him, he knows how to hit them" the ranger began, "Anyway, I set up a small camp here, to rest, nights here are cold, but not as cold as the ones of the Mojave, then I saw two couples emerge out of the houses, down to the shed, then they came out a half an hour later…with meat on plates" the ranger then turned to Maverick, surely not knowing who he was talking to.

"I don't know you, but I think we are dealing with cannibals" Maverick there groaned, and turned green.

"Please tell me that was a joke" Maverick said.

"A joke is Kimball's balls, a joke is McCarran's lack of a proper chef, I am deadly serious here" the man said, "Furthermore one of them actually left with a hat on, and he had entered the shed without one" the ranger said.

"What makes it so…disturbing; besides the fact they are cannibals?" Sally asked, catching the attention of the ranger.

"…The hat belonged to one of the patrol rangers, highly trained soldiers that can survive some of the harshest conditions in the wasteland, they are also stealth experts, you want something done, call a ranger" the ranger began.

"Hell why there is even NCR presence here to begin with?" Veronica snapped, the ranger regarded her oddly, and then answered.

"We were send here on some rumors about the presence of one of Caesars most trusted Fummentari, Vulpes Inculta, a spy, an assassin who has led sever blows to our position in the Mojave, the fall of Nelson is attributed to him, furthermore there are rumors that Caesar is considering him the next legate, after the disappearance of his last one, Legate Lanius" Sally, Maverick and Veronica shared a look, this Vulpes sounded like someone you didn't want to cross.

"Lanius was a beast, I admit it, I once saw trough my scope how he cut down one of the troopers down with less the effort that it takes to swat a bloatfly" the ranger admitted, "But Inculta is also an enemy of care, what he lack in strength compared to Lanius, which is much, he makes up with cunning and a spy network that is very well intricate in New Vegas" Sally perked at that.

"Las Vegas still stands?" she asked.

"Yes, but now it's called New Vegas, or so its owner, Mr. House says" the ranger said, missing the look of utter shock on Sally's face.

"Listen, I know you are not one of the rangers, but I see you don't come here to pick fights with us, so let's do this" the ranger said, pulling a two-way radio out and handing it to Maverick.

"I can't leave this post, I'm a sniper, you call them or I see them and they drop dead, I'm not much of a hand-to-hand fighter, and I don't do well sneaking around, and while I would love to shoot those cannibals down, I can't, I saw a pair of children and an elder huddled on the third house, a gunfight will spook them off, so let's do this, go to that shed, enter and…confirm me if my friend…a female patrol ranger is there…dead or alive, then you call me, whatever you do don't fight the cannibals, I don't know why or how, but cannibals tend to be a little stronger than the average wastelander" the ranger called.

"Maverick is not exactly the average wastelander…and what do we get from this?" Sally asked, for a moment the ranger looked at her, then turned to Maverick.

"When we were deployed here, we were five, a trooper, a patrol ranger, me, and two first recon snipers, the trooper died, ironically, mauled by a Yao Guai, a bear" the ranger began, "The patrol ranger…Jessica, said that she would scout the south, her last message was an hour after the bombardment to the Enclave's base, so I was send to her last know location according to her last night, this place is hostile I tell you, it's raiders are vicious, but they are not Fiends" the ranger continued.

"When you confirm me what happened to her, and we deal with the cannibals, I will join you in whatever you are doing, for a short time, my mission still stands, Inculta must die" the ranger finished.

"Sounds like a deal, besides we here are not friends of the Legion, a while back we fought a Decanus…Severus" the ranger nodded, "Suffice to say that your enemies are my enemies, I really want to know too why they are here"

"Severus eh? Looks like a name first recon will have to chalk out of their hit lists" the ranger mentioned, "Anyway, there is a path you can use to…" whatever the ranger was going to say died out when Maverick stood up and made a leap out of the cliff, down to the ground, the ranger would have screamed if it wasn't upon seeing Maverick land hard on the ground, on his feet, then rise up, and actually vanish away out of sight.

"How the-" whatever the ranger was about to say was silenced when Veronica forced him to him to kneel again, and basically taking a prone position on the cliff.

"Dammit Maverick, he had to take the noisy road" Sally hissed, the ranger, knowing that the fall of Maverick had surely drew the attention of those inside the houses, peered over his scope and saw the two cannibal couples emerge out of the houses, he knew the children were with the old man in the third house, surely he wouldn't bother getting out, he just came once, just to open the doors for the children, and armed with a single handgun.

Whatever Maverick had done, made the couples walk towards his landing zone, finding absolutely nothing but dust, of course he, being a trained ranger and tracker, could easily see the footprints he had made in the dust, something the couples noted, but he found odd that the trail ended close to one of the ruined houses, but not close enough for him to do something…

Then one of the women was flying away towards a damaged wooden wall, crashing on her back and her head impacting on the wood, leaving a slight trail of blood, the partner of the woman was already rushing to her wife when he suddenly was lifted as well, then was viciously slammed to the ground, face first.

The other couple didn't knew what was going on, and didn't much either when the woman cried in pain as something slammed her on the chest, sending her towards the cliff wall and sliding down, unconscious.

The last standing man just pulled his gun and began to aim around, like crazy, not knowing what was attacking them, it wasn't until he felt something wrap around the back of his neck that he actually stopped, when he tried to scream all he could manage was a soundless garble as he was flipped over and slammed to the ground, face meeting ground first.

Then Maverick materialized, looked up and waved, then began looting the four fallen.

"…Holly hell" the ranger whispered, "Who is that guy?" he asked to Sally.

"Maverick? The Enclave's worse nightmare, come on" she said, slowly standing up, "With those four out we can actually look around without fear" she added.

The ranger seemed to have perked at the name, and with a silent 'shit' he followed the two girls down, there they found Maverick a while later, pulling out of one of the unconscious women a set of keys and brandishing them.

"If you want I can break the door as well" Maverick said to the ranger.

"Nah, let's keep it subtle…or what you call subtle" the ranger said, motioning Maverick to the shed.

Once there it was just a matter of using the keys to open the three locks in it, even outside they could feel a putrid smell.

"…Rotten meat, in large quantities…and blood, coagulated" Sally said, earning her a look of the ranger.

"This is not place for a little girl" the ranger called, looking at Sally, the girl didn't found intimidating the red like gaze of the ranger's mask.

"Maverick and I…we have seen worse" she said without missing a beat, the ranger was appalled with the cold tone she took, she looked like ten years old, but her eyes…those eyes were haunted, for a sole second he saw a very haunted woman instead of a little child.

"Do it"

Maverick obeyed Sally's order and opened the door, immediately regretting it as the stench of decayed flesh and blood hit him full force, Sally grimaced because of the smell, all while Veronica, shocked by what she was seeing, bended over and vomited her breakfast.

"Dear god" the ranger said, entering the room and thanking whoever fixed his mask, the sight alone was revolting; the smell should be unbearable to Maverick and the other two girls.

Yet Maverick and Sally entered, Sally's expression was just disconcerting, she seemed unfazed by the macabre sight, Maverick on the other hand did reacted when he saw a pair of heads, peeled of its skin and part of its muscle, alongside their eyes.

"…What's the punishment for cannibalism in your government?" Sally asked, looking at the shaken Maverick.

"Execution" the ranger replied, seeing where this was going, honestly this little girl was scaring him more than an Alpha Deathclaw.

"Maverick, do it" was all the little girl said as she extended her hand and Maverick deposited the keys in her hands, then he walked out of the shed, a grim look on his face.

"…Good god" the ranger said walking around, then stopping when he felt the floor a little too loose, looking down he found, much to his surprise, a trap door.

"The keys please" he asked Sally, the little girl gave them without hesitation as he looked a keyhole or a place where he could insert the key.

Finally finding a keyhole, he inserted one by one the keys until one them fitted, then he twisted, and smirked under his mask as the inner mechanism clicked.

Lifting the trap door, he sighed in relieve when he saw an African woman tucked inside, he could see she was alive due to her short intakes of breaths, she was on her underwear, and had bruises on her whole body, it was obvious she had put a fight, but four on one is hardly a fair fight.

The ranger had to force his body to lift her up, while lithe due to her training as a ranger and survivalist training, which burned a lot of calories, he was not exactly the strongest ranger physically, the only reason he could use the Anti-materiel rifle he had was because he had invested two month salaries on custom parts to lower its weight and recoil, all out of the Gun Runner factories.

"Ugh…Manuel" the dark skinned woman called, her eyes disoriented, but apparently able to recognize him.

"I'm here Jessica, don't move too much" the ranger named Manuel said, slowly lifting the woman out of the trap door and out of the shed, there Veronica, Sally and a grim looking Maverick waited, Manuel didn't need to see Maverick's face, his posture was enough to tell him that he didn't like the job of executing the four cannibals.

"…They claimed they did what their ancestors did" Maverick said, there Manuel understood, surviving the current wasteland was hard, not impossible, it tested you, but before it was nearly impossible to someone to live on its own, things were bad, and cannibals claiming they were surviving was one of those things.

"The last guy woke up, asked me if I was proud for what I was doing, killing survivors, that if I was proud by leaving orphans behind…god" Maverick muttered.

"It was the best thing you could do for the kids, better to grow normal than cannibal some say" Manuel said, he hadn't heard anything close to a gunshot when Maverick left, so that meant…Maverick had broken their necks, it was clean, it was easy, it was somewhat painless.

Shaking his head, Manuel helped Jessica to her feet, then looked at Maverick straight in the eyes.

"So kid…where to now?"

* * *

><p>"Beautiful, isn't it?" Sarah rolled her eyes, Order of the sword, Scribe Peabody, stated as he stared at the Boomstick; the weapon was left in the labs, as it was the only place it could be placed safely, and safely meant that no one stupid enough to not heed the warning of Sally of touching the gun and risking being vivisected was going to enter without authorization of Peabody.<p>

Yet she was more worried about the man itself than any outside menace, he was in charge of the weapons, any weapon, experimental or otherwise was to be passed first here, the boomstick itself was a unique weapon, only knights with modifications made by Sally could actually lift the gun, no one knew if they would stand the recoil, as Sarah never fired it, the fact was that this gun was a 'portable' tank killer, portable being the term used loosely.

Sarah knew that the only reason Peabody was not disassembling the gun was because Sally had stated, quite graphically for some scribes liking, what she would do to the person that touches the gun that she and Maverick made, much of what she told involved a buzz saw and starting cutting from the anus, then upwards.

It seemed Sally had learned to be sadistic out of observing the aliens massive experiments, the girl was sound on her head, that was for certain, someone lesser would have broke in the circumstances she was put, yet Sally didn't, or perhaps she did, and she picked herself up, 200 years is a lot of time, she had enough time to get her act together, to be something else, yet she was still a little girl by heart, the fact she could scare grown-ups with her attitude didn't help in reducing her childlike behavior sometimes.

"You know you are warned" Sarah reminded.

"I know that very well sentinel Lyons" Sarah slightly smirked at the shudder Peabody felt, "I'm just saying, that for a little girl of her age, what she has done so far is quite amazing, I witnessed the power behind the handgun she gave to your friend Maverick, the blue gun, and the axe he used in the battle, not to mention what she did to Prime…she scares me" Peabody admitted.

"Good" Sarah began, much to Peabody's shock, "She suffered a lot, trust me, and in return she learned a lot of how to make people suffer, don't mess with her, stay in her good side and perhaps some of her genius will rub on you" she stated, turning around.

"How's the research with the other guns we salvaged?" she asked before leaving, eyes focused on the amount of guns set on several desks, most of them Enclave weaponry.

"Going well I dare say, I am more familiar with these guns and with the amount we got we will advance in our studies, perhaps we will be able to make our own, when we find an assembling line" Peabody stated, much to Sarah's amusement.

"Sarah" he called before she left, she noticed that his hands were resting on the damaged barrel of the boomstick, and slightly trailing the message written in the body.

"I might be trespassing my limits here, but please be careful, it is obvious the vault dweller consider you a good friend, if he lost you…" he let the sentence hang in the air, Sarah didn't need no more words to imagine what he wanted to say, Maverick is a juggernaut, a living tank, a sponge bullet, and that was when he was controlled, she did not dare to think what might happen if he lost control.

Well she did, and the images of a gruesome death of Enclave soldiers and vault dwellers were a little too much for the moment.

Shaking her head she exited the lab, immediately crossing paths with the Pride, the full roster of Lyon's Pride, all of them gathered to fight once again under her command, all ready to fight against a common enemy.

All of them knew she was friend with a vault dweller.

She knew her friendship with Maverick, coupled with what she did outside of Project Purity after he and Prime had send the Enclave packing had a lot of people talking, everyone knew that Maverick was with them because of Sarah and his father's project, nothing else, no one knew what would happen afterwards, most dreaded it.

Not her of course, she knew that he was a good person at heart, regardless of the chaos he could cause and death trail he left behind him, it wasn't his fault he was like this, he was turned into this, unlike most exposed to the wasteland, like the vault dwellers, his exposure was basically nothing until days ago, they adapted, they became, they turned, Maverick didn't, he was turned, given the tools to survive, yet somehow be able to remain the same.

She could safely say that the Maverick she knew was the real Maverick, not someone who got scared and changed by the wasteland.

"Is good to see you all again" Sarah began, her sight and thoughts focused on her people, her unit, her Pride.

"I know my disappearance was sudden, and so was my sudden appereance" she began, seeing how Dusk gripped her sniper rifle a little tighter than usual.

"You think I'm changed" she noted how Gallows moved his left leg a little to the right.

"And you're right" she added, if it wasn't for the fact all of them were wearing helmets she would see their shock, the only way she difference them of the rest was for their guns, and the little trinkets they added to their armors.

Dusk had five .308 rounds tied to her left forearm with a single belt, Gallows having two combat knifes tied to his chest plate, close for unsheathing faster, Vargas was easily recognized because the emblem of Lyons Pride was etched on his chest plate, not the shoulder plates, Colvin, like Dusk, had .308 rounds, but tied in a bandoleer around his waist, and her, back when she had her old armor, her whole left arm plate was painted black, some people came to call her 'the left arm of god' for that particular reason, not that she didn't help a lot with her reputation, whenever she went, things died, pretty much like what happened with Maverick currently.

"I…saw things that changed me, met people that changed me" she directed those words right into her unit, to remind them who she really was, "The place I was…the…things that held me, they were monsters, smart monsters that turned a little girl into a savant, who turned a vault dweller with no desire to kill into a tank" she stated.

"My armor and gun here belong to that place as well, and so does the old Sarah, she died there" she added, "Just like the innocence of Sally and Maverick, you're staring at a whole different person" Sarah stated.

"But one thing remains, I want revenge, but not because of Dan" she corrected, shocking her unit, "Dan died, and my sole reason in life then became to murder Almodovar, but now I see that was a mistake" Sarah added, turning around and facing her unit.

"If we are going to fight, we will do it to free the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave" Sarah said, "To make sure no more families get broken by this senseless war" Sarah snapped.

The pride there saw Sarah in a whole different light, she was right, at one time she was driven by bloodlust, pure rage, it had cost a lot of lives under her command, she didn't care in those times, her only concern was butchering Amata the same way she did to Dan.

Now, however, things had changed.

They had Liberty Prime at full force, she was back, better than ever, the Enclave had lost a lot of their forces and the momentum they carried, several dwellers were dead or crippled, Paradise Falls was a burned crater, all thanks to Maverick and Sally.

Those two had tipped the scale on their favor, now it was time to capitalize their efforts.

"Okay Pride, you all know what must be done, we will reclaim DC, then we reclaim the wasteland!" Sarah began, "And once it is done…what will happen next?" it was a question she always made to the pride whenever they charged against the Enclave, she hoped they remember.

"WE SEND THE ENCLAVE PACKING!"

"Damn right we will" Sarah bellowed, they remembered, even the part where they screamed at the same time.

"Okay Pride, MOVE OUT!"

* * *

><p>Manuel glanced at Maverick and Sally, Veronica, the brotherhood scribe that looked more like a pre-war beggar than a post-war scribe walking at their side.<p>

He had to hand it to Maverick, at first he thought he was a ranger, some obscure ranger with elite training and more kills on his name than blood cells under presidential orders only, send with the sole mission of eliminating Inculta and his entourage.

It was the little girl, Sally who told him that Maverick was vault dweller, an oddity on the wastes, most vaults were empty, filled with bones and ghouls, mostly animals, radroaches and molerats found the dark corridors of the vaults a home, especially safe to litters of molerats since very few people knew the location of the vaults.

The kicker was that while vault dwellers seemed to be one man armies, alongside their descendants, examples being the vault dweller of vault 13 and the chosen one, there were not records of bulletproof vault dwellers that could easily rip your heart out and beat the shit out of you with your arm.

The cannibals didn't stood a chance, if Maverick could actually kill a Super Mutant barehanded, and if he was led to believe, had actually tackled a Deathclaw away, with only the scars on his face, which were light as only evidence of his encounter with one of the wasteland fauna deadliest, then he obviously was more than a match for whatever humans had to pit against him.

"I tell you Maverick, we could have used someone like you back at the Dam, I can already see it, you with a minigun, no make it a Vulcan cannon, laying hell on those Legion bastards, all while stepping on the body of Lanius, it would be beautiful man" Manuel stated.

"I say it once, and I say it again, you got a sick mind Manuel" the dark skinned woman, Jessica was her name, said as she adjusted her park ranger hat on her head with her left hand, all while holding a 10mm submachine gun with her right hand.

"Was that battle…that bad?" Sally asked, the town, Andale behind them, they had left in silence, leaving the bodies hidden inside a manhole not far from one of the houses, after they had found the armor and gun of Jessica, the group had left, the old man had watch them leave, with just a nod and a small, sad smile on his lips, it was obvious the man was also a cannibal, but anyone could see the regret on his eyes, he had finally seen that what he had done was bad, horrible, and while he couldn't do nothing for the people Maverick had to kill, he could do something for the kids, life on the wasteland was hard, but they would endure.

"That bad, we lost a lot of good people that day, we had to actually dynamite a town to make the legion retreat, Boulder Town, but if we got bad out of that fight, the Legion got out worse" Manuel said.

"Centurions are the backbone of Caesars army, kill them and you kill the morale of the unit they lead, even more if you take down their flags bearers" Jessica began, "The battle began with Caesar attacking en mass"

"As usual he send his recruits first, the greenest first, the experienced behind, a strategy that the legate Malpais designed and so far had worked, but we figured it out, at a frontal charge we would lose, so instead we took high ground, and as soon the first Centurions began to show up, First Recon began to drop them like flies, that caused chaos among their ranks, and the rest was basically a close quarter fight, we lost men, they lost men, but we didn't lost our General, General Oliver led that battle with precision, on the other hand Caesar had his legate captured, covered in pitch and lit on fire, then toss him to the Grand Canyon down below, to show that failure was not acceptable, to anyone" Jessica there smirked, her split lip slightly opening and letting some blood out.

"But it seemed that not even that was enough to finish Joshua Graham, story goes that the man survived, and lives on as the Burned Man, the Legion's worst nightmare, once or twice assassins will turn out dead on Legion ground, camps razed, and a lot of shit done to their corpses that you think that they turned on each other, but they know different, the Burned Man walks, and he is pissed" she added.

Maverick just shook his head, it seemed like the worse of mankind was resurfacing alongside civilization, the worse of this was that Caesar didn't seemed interested in Hoover Dam, according to Manuel, it seemed he only attacked the Dam because NCR was holding it, the crazy bastard had initiated a war out to test his own army against something with equal might.

But it seemed the situation was something worse, because Legion and NCR were not the only players on his game of tug-of-war, according to Jessica, New Vegas was being hold by a man calling himself Mr. House, living in the Lucky 38, according to the locals, Mr. House had brought Las Vegas many tribal families and brought them together into a civilized group, no one knew who he was, or if he was in fact a she using the name of a pre-war figure, but no one could deny his control over the securitrons, his personal army, that while robotic, was still small compared to NCR, Legion or brotherhood.

In a sense Mr. House kept the status quo with his presence alone.

The walk had been silent after that, from Andale to their next pit stop was over two hours, maybe more since Jessica had yet to recover from some wound son her legs, obviously the cannibals didn't wanted her to run around, in short she was slowing them, and the sun was not so close of reaching its apex, in the wasteland, the midday sun is basically hell itself, most mutated animals can't stand it, reason why most creatures now lack fur, with the obvious exception of dogs, Yao Guai and Giant Tarantulas, and yes, giant in the sense they are as big as a car, not a nice prospect to witness considering that 'Radrantulas' the given name by wastelanders, had fangs of the size of your forearm and their venom could easily dissolve your organs, and your skin, and your bones, leaving its prey a mass of…something.

Their next destination, according to Sally and Maverick's pip-boy map was RobCo HQ and assembling line, while the place would offer little to nothing I regards of food, it had, in Sally's and Veronica opinion, a big loot of technology caches, mostly information that could be copied, blueprints, the sort of that, Sally had explained that RobCo had spear-headed the creation of the Fission Batteries, and while Sally could make several with her 'resources' meaning to Maverick and Veronica using the ship's tech, it would be wasteful because it would included trial and error, Sally had admitted that Fission energy, especially the one in Fission Batteries was an exact science, or in her words she needed the recipe of the acid used to suspend the isotope used in the batteries, without it her Fission Batteries might well be Molotov cocktails, fragile and always on, and who can forget with the power of a mini-nuke.

After a while, and as the sun began to rise even more, they finally arrived to RobCo HQ, in all its ruined glory, of course, like many important buildings, it was built and refurbished with the intention of withholding anything, from earthquakes to even a nuke going off right at their side.

Yet time was an unforgiving master, as Sally had admitted, she wouldn't remain young forever, and neither did the building, as 200 years of neglect and abandonment had taken its toll on the structure, like she admitted, nothing is truly indestructible.

"It looks like hell" was her first comment, not the most intelligent thing she has said in her long life, but considering that overlapping her memories of the building's former form to its current one, she couldn't help it.

"200 years and several megatons worth of bombs going off tend to do that" Maverick said, eyeing the building, then looking around and seeing just the destroyed streets and buildings around it, a lot of damaged trucks lay in the cracked road, their wagons all upturned and spilling a great quantity of mechanical components.

Veronica, once seeing this, rushed to the closest, and began to squeal like a little girl.

"This is the mother lode, robot parts and motherboards, this is enough to make yourself a robot" the scribe exclaimed in happiness.

"I bet you can do something else with it" Manuel added as he saw Maverick and Sally exchange glances, then nod.

"Listen guys, wait here while Sally and I go inside and find the mainframe, keep an eye opened" Maverick said, Manuel wasn't about to argue with the guy, sniper rifles, regardless of their stopping power, are not suited for narrow passages, corridors included, Jessica seemed relieved as she actually entered the upturn wagon where Veronica was currently looting and sorting, then collapsed on her butt, letting along sigh of relief.

"Are you sure Maverick, you could use some extra hands to crack a computer" Veronica called, her hands gripping what seemed a small generator of some sort.

"Nah, we're good" Maverick called, "Rest and be ready when we come out" he called as he and Sally made their way towards the building and vanishing on its entrance, leaving Manuel to basically look for a possible sniping position, or a place where they could be sniped.

Inside the building, Maverick immediately turned to Sally, placing a hand on her shoulder and stopping her before she could move at all.

"Okay Sally…spill"

Sally didn't answered outright, she just pointed at a closed double door.

"Okay, but I expect some answers, we agreed to be honest with each other" Maverick said.

"And we are" she said with a final tone as Maverick forced the locked doors out of its hinges, making an unholy noise.

* * *

><p>"Did you heard that?"<p>

"Surely another robobrain stumbling on the walls Olin, do not worry about it"

"Ugh, McGraw I swear sometimes if you weren't a protector and my husband…"

Protector McGraw and Specialist Olin, members of the Brotherhood Outcasts, and odd pair of lovers no matter where you look them, one a soldier, usually using brute strength to get his way, the other a technician, rather using brains than brawn, how they came to be lovers is a story that is a long as the story of the brotherhood itself.

To make it short, when they were scavenging for some tech, they decided that blowing the door was better that using the computer, on in this case, blowing the adjacent wall, at that time McGraw had at that time of six people, when they decided to blow the wall, this caused the whole ceiling on the underground bunker they found this cache of weapons and armors to fall on them, McGraw and Olin got lucky, they escaped with the loot, the others were crushed like pancakes.

After that, Protector Casdin, upon seeing their cache of technology, but the price paid for it, decided that for now on, heavily armed groups of soldiers not bigger than four would move around specific position in the wasteland, places where technology was most prominent, and since DC was still, at that time, a warzone, the wasteland itself became their roaming grounds, groups would find a place where technology could be found, fortified there and started to work, leaving only when the cache of technology was found, or food ran out.

In their case, their prolonged exposure to each other, and the fact none of them had got laid in quite a while led to one thing, and another, and another, and when they realized what they had done, they didn't dare to stop, they had lacked a constant in their lives that now they had it, they didn't dare to break that up.

So they eloped, engagement rings, let alone rings of any kind was a moot point, most of that got lost during the aftermath of the Great War, looted by crazies who believed all would be fine the next week.

So here they were, on a facility that held the secrets of robotics, how to made them, how to maintain them, and it was their duty to keep that knowledge out of prying hands.

"Protector, come see this" one of the defenders, Defender Stratton, green as grass where you look at him, motioned him.

Currently hold in a security room, with food, four mattresses for beds, a fission generator powering the several computers, and several boxes filled with ammo, this was a very well defended position, also this place had monitors connected to cameras that still worked, allowing them to monitor any kind of possible break-in, possible because the cameras in the entrance lobby were down, and so the same on the first floor, with the exception of one single camera on that floor, it had helped in fighting the rampaging robots.

McGraw approached the seating Stratton; the boy had been sitting in front of the screen all day, looking for any more rampaging robots, mostly robobrains and a pair of Mr. Gutsy models roaming around.

"Check this out protector" Stratton said, pointing to one of the screens, there they saw a man, clad in what seemed a black duster and armor underneath with a backpack on his back, besides him a little girl with a similar backpack, a plasma gun in her hand and a strange baton tied to her belt, walking around.

"They are in the assembling line" McGraw stated, from the lobby up to the assembling line it was a dead zone, out the assembling line and up to the cafeteria entrance, it was another dead zone, no cameras, no way to know who was there, five minutes of walk of that dead zone to the cafeteria.

If they were fast, and it was doubtful, since Defender Argos had reported seeing a Mr. Gutsy roaming around, while not packing the thick armor and a minigun with a rocket launcher arm of a Sentry Bot, they had still a sturdy armor plating and a plasma gun attached to them, along with a flamethrower, they had long and close range covered.

Still they waited, they wouldn't discard the visitors just yet, this war had hardened many people, and Casdin was clearly surprised to see once again the Enclave, just like anyone else.

Then they saw them again, inside the cafeteria, the man and the little girl, no less than two minutes later, looking around, trying to hear them would be fruitless, the cameras were very old models, back of the 2050, to that time cameras didn't had and kind of sound receptors, that was installed in 2065, yet RobCo HQ never got them, relying in the old fashioned inside the lights cameras.

There McGraw was able to see them even better, and his eyes widened, "A vault dweller?" he asked to himself, loud enough to the people with him to hear, "And the child, the baton tied to her hips is…rather advanced" he added.

"I can call defender Argos, tell him to incapacitate them both and take the plasma gun and the baton" protector Stratton said, knowing that this was a normal operation carried by the brotherhood back in Lost Hills, all kind of technology had to be retrieved of any kind of hands, even if it was the hands of a child.

"Do it, but tell him to do so with caution, there is a VD in the zone" McGraw stated, this was standard, for everyone, even Lyons brotherhood rogues, vault dwellers were very dangerous enemies, with an accuracy that was mythical, and downright scary.

Calling the defender was easy, all power armors had built-in radios, and things seemed to shape up for Argos, he was a room away of the two intruders, he had just to wait to them to pass and he would take them from behind.

The wait was killing them of course; they had to wait until the duo had made it pass the offices near the cafeteria, position where defender Argos was currently, when the duo did it, Stratton gave the Ok to Argos to move.

Stealth on power armor was an art, a newly developed one, back in the day no one would bother for that, after all power armors are tanks with legs and hands, moving silently with such armor is an art, a work in progress, but is effective.

They see how Argos raises his laser rifle slowly, moving easily, but slowly and without crashing with anything that might give his position, then when he was close enough he rose up to his full height and spoke, they could hear him, his radio inside his helmet allowed him to.

"_Freez…"_

He didn't go beyond that when the dweller turned, faster than anything seen, seizing Argos by the arm, then suddenly tossing him to a wall hard enough to crack it with the force behind it, as if it wasn't enough the dweller then grabbed Argos by the chest plate with both hands and tossed him to the other wall, much to their shock Argos went through the wall.

"The hell" Olin stated, shock was barely the expression that would help express her now, a power armored individual weighted as much as fully grown overlord or Deathclaw, to toss someone like nothing, through a wall, was nothing short of…shocking, let alone doing it twice.

They saw how the dweller turned his attention to the sober looking girl; they saw her speak to the dweller, pointing at the spot Argos was pushed away, then running her thumb over her neck, as a sign of 'terminate him' the dweller did not, instead he made it to the hole he made, turned Argos to his chest, and ripped the fission cell that powered the armor.

"Did that girl…just told him to kill Argos on cold blood?" Stratton asked.

"I'm more shocked by the guy who tossed Argos like a rag doll" Olin said, staring at the image of the two intruders, and her eyes, if possible got wider in shock, as she saw where they were heading.

"Dammit, there heading to the mainframe room!"

* * *

><p>"Are you certain Maverick?" Sally asked, a little skeptical about Maverick letting live that armored soldier, if she had her way, the guy would be dead.<p>

"I am Sally, he is one of the Outcasts Sarah told me about" Maverick replied.

"The splinter faction of Lyons brotherhood" Sally made a 'hum' noise of this, thinking it over, "They value technology above all else, even human life…they are a danger" Sally added, Maverick could basically hear her chiding to him to finish the guy off for that alone.

"You worry too much Sally, if Sarah is led to believe, even they had their share of tangles with the Enclave, they are not as numerous as they were once they left" Maverick added.

"Beyond the point Mavi" Sally snapped, "These guys are the kind we had back in my time, ruthless, heartless, reminds me of New York cops during the food riots, hell even Las Vegas cops had more control during those riots, those guys saw the mob and immediately opened fire" Sally snarled.

"Don't reminisce, eyes on the prize" Maverick reminded.

"Yeah…eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize" she said and repeated, it was becoming increasingly hard to not remember her past life, and that was causing her a migraine, last time she had a migraine of the kind she was about to have…

"What do you expect to find in RobCo's mainframe?" Maverick asked.

"_Bless him" _she thought, making her think of present made her migraine lessen, "I'm hoping to find files regarding uncle House, ever since those rangers told me what is truly going in Las Vegas I'm been wondering if Uncle House is alive, you can extend your life, if you're willing to break several natural laws and rape your body into a horrible mess" Sally added.

"You think you will find something, your uncle sounds like someone who likes to keep things to himself"

"He did, but he is also messy in some regards, he multitask, and that makes him sloppy, I wanna see if that works for us" Sally added, "The fact I knew about Liberty Prime was evidence of it" she added, "Besides, if he is indeed alive…I have to know why"

"Why what?" Maverick asked.

"Why he didn't do anything, and acts now, after 200 years" Sally said, "This way" she added as she pointed at a set of stairs that led them even higher, surely to the third floor where the mainframe was located.

"Must be something related to that OS, he spent a lot of money and time on it" Sally stated, stopping in front of a wooden door alongside Maverick.

"It has to be big, big enough to actually haggle the NCR into paying taxes, he is bidding his time" Maverick stated, "But for what is the question" he added.

"True, open the door" Maverick did it without hesitation, immediately stopping at the sight of a massive computer on the other end of the room, and the rows upon rows on cables and small computers on the sides of the room.

"Damn" he said as he stared around, "This is…overboard" he added.

"This mainframe controls every single bot in the Capital Wasteland" Sally began, "Every RobCo building had a mainframe of this kind on every state, this was to ensure a possible robot uprising would be prevented by shutting them down, whenever state they are" Sally said, "As it stands, I could give the command, and every bot in the ruins of Washington DC, barring those modified by the brotherhood and Enclave forces, along those with old army protocols, to shut down"

"Useful if you ask me" Maverick said, pulling OWB and advancing to the center of the room, "Okay Sally, work your mojo and I'll cover your back"

"The usual then" Sally answered with a smirk as she reached for her backpack, pulling what seemed an alien datapad, he had seen many of those near the aliens, most of them used them for…something.

"I customized this one for my personal use, besides the fact is on English and answers to my own DNA code, something standard on the aliens datapads, I can store incredible amounts of information, from any computer, and upload that info to the ship's own mainframe, whenever I am, this will take a minute" she said as she approached the mainframe and began working her magic.

"Okay, make it five minutes, half of the files here are encrypted with military protocols, the other half is corrupted, files incomplete and scattered all over the computer temporal databanks, it will take time to find them and put them back in place" Sally said.

"I assume five minutes is fast compared to human computers" Maverick said, keeping an eye on the only exit of the room.

"Yep, this kind of process would take a year, only in restoring the corrupted and incomplete files, downloading it all would take five hours, we don't have that time to spare" Sally replied, working on the datapad on her hands.

"If any of those outcasts come here, break them, but don't kill them…much"

"How can you not kill a person much?"

"You would be surprised of the answer"

Maverick shook his head, letting Sally work, highly complicated technological marvels and pulling miracles out of scrap metal and turn it into bloody, gruesome death machines was her forte, his was mostly based on wielding such miracles she made and turn them onto any fool who crossed his path.

The waiting for the outcasts storming didn't take long, if Sarah was led to believe, in the outcasts you could see what the brotherhood steel back in Lost Hills had turned into, valuing technology above all else, even life, either theirs of that one of wastelanders.

Soon three outcasts busted into the room, two of them wearing power armors, the last one with scribe robes, all with the colors of the outcasts, black with red stripes.

Maverick instantly leveled OWB to them, the trio did the same with their guns, Maverick wasn't concerned, laser weapons didn't hurt him, while in theory they should, plasma included, but that didn't mean Sally was laser and plasma proof as he is.

"Go ahead…give me a reason" Maverick said.

"That was so clichéd Maverick!"

"Not helping Sally!"

McGraw simply stared at the man leveling the gun at him and the girl behind him, working on the mainframe with a hi-tech looking datapad, surely downloading something from the mainframe databanks.

"Move aside wastelander, that's brotherhood property" McGraw snapped.

"Yours? I don't see your name on it" Maverick snapped back, "Last I checked this was RobCo, not brotherhood incorporated"

"The brotherhood of steel has the task of safeguarding all technology in the world" McGraw snapped.

"Then what?" Maverick asked, "Letting it gain a fine layer of dust? Let it rust?" Maverick continued, "Sarah told me all about the brotherhood of steel, their directives, their goals, I must say that at the beginning it was good, but now it's just selfish" Maverick replied.

"Selfish? You dare…" Olin began.

"We do" Sally said from the other end of the room, working on her datapad, "The brotherhood you guys support is useless, outdated and marked for death, nature and history have proven over and over that those who change and adapt the ever changing world are the winners, those stuck in old customs and never improving are doomed, simple as that, I hope you can tell that to the elders when you go to your hole on the ground, with my compliments and those of Elder Lyons" Sally said, then turned, giving each one of the outcasts a nasty smirk.

"You can also tell them that we will take good care of Arthur, I will especially take care of him…he look rather…yummy"

"You who-"

"Finish that sentence I dare you" Maverick pointed his gun at Olin, the woman knew that unlike McGraw and Stratton, she didn't had something that could stop a bullet in her body, besides her bones.

No one moved, no one dared, how could they, they had seen what Maverick had done, they were being optimistic of course, there was no way that they guy would take them all three down.

Yet they wouldn't take a chance, the outcasts, just like Lyons brotherhood was stretched thin, even more, Lyons accepted anyone capable of fighting and recruited locally, a complete reject to the codex main directives.

The war demanded sacrifices, and violating one of the codex directives seemed minor compared to the bounty that would be Enclave technology, yet…

"I'm done" the little girl called from the other end of the room, standing up and pocketing the datapad on her backpack, and walking at Maverick's side, giving a look reserved to annoying obstacles to the three outcasts.

"Let's go Maverick, we got what we came from" she said, motioning Maverick to follow her, the outcasts didn't dare to make a move on the girl, fearing that Maverick might go berserk on them, and as few outcasts left, they had, sometimes, forfeit their technology.

As Maverick, still holding them at gun point moved sideways with Sally, slowly making their way to the door, Stratton couldn't tolerate this, he moved to tackle Maverick…

**BAMM!**

He stopped dead on his tracks, paralyzed in fear as a super-sonic round basically shredded his right ear and opened a hole of the size of his head on the mainframe behind him, such was the blast that he was unable to feel pain for his lost ear.

"If I wanted it you would be dead by now" Maverick hissed, "You outcasts…you're no better than the Enclave, if you had your way you would kill everyone to get all the technology in the world and 'guard' it, question is of what?"

"Of you wastelanders, see the world, this was provoked by unmeasured use of technology" McGraw snapped, "We just make sure this never happens again"

"No, you're just greedy assholes playing cops of the world, and last I checked, that ended up bad" Maverick said, raising OWB and then holstering it, "Don't try anything stupid, attack me or Sally at your own risk" he added as he took several steps back, then reached for the door and closed it on his wake, leaving three disgruntle outcasts soldiers.

"…so…who get to say this to Protector Casdin?" Olin asked, really wondering how Casdin what going to take the fact they lost the only access to RobCo mainframe out to a little girl and a guy who shot the mainframe, and the ear of Stratton.

* * *

><p>"Maverick fired a round…that thing sure makes a lot of noise" Veronica said as a matter of fact, pulling out a gyro out of the chassis of what used to be a Mr. Gutsy.<p>

"I didn't see something big enough in him to cause such a sound" Manuel said, keeping an eye around.

"He has one, powerful enough to open a clean hone on a power armor chest plate, just because is not visible it doesn't mean is not there" Veronica reminded.

"Maverick and Sally, are they brother or sister? Or father and daughter?" Jessica asked, still resting near the truck, Veronica simply snorted, shaking her head.

"Maverick's nineteen, maybe twenty, Sally is ten" she lied on that part, Sally was over 200 years old, "That would mean Maverick had her when he was ten" Jessica snorted amused by this.

"I think they are like brother and sister, they bicker and fight, help and back each other up, when I met them it was like that, born out of necessity, she is smart, the smartest girl you'll ever meet, and Maverick is strong, strong enough to tackle a Deathclaw down and then break its neck with his bare hands, you can say that from the necessity of protection, the ancient war of brain and brawn ended with them" Veronica said.

"He is…that strong?" Jessica asked.

"Oh yeah, punched a clean hole on a Overlord stomach and neck, and used the corpse as a battering ram and shield"

"…You're kidding" Manuel said, glancing at Jessica, the girl could see some nervousness behind his helmet.

"Nope, saw it myself, kinda over the top, but against an overlord nothing is over the top, taller than the average super mutant, uglier too" Veronica said, of course she was not going to tell them how the fight between Maverick and Lanius had gone, Maverick was strong, she gives him that, but Lanius had outclassed Maverick and he had only won because Lanius was unarmed and unlike Maverick, was able to think and use his environment to his advantage, that and he got stuck as the space station blew up around him.

"And there back" Jessica said, slowly standing up and grimacing as she did so, Veronica looked up from her position, Manuel shouldering his rifle as Maverick and Sally made their way to them.

"How was the scavenging?" Manuel asked.

"Not bad, for a factory that made robots that was seriously lacking" Sally said, "Got the data I wanted, so we can keep on moving to our original goal" she added.

"Really, we heard a gunshot minutes ago, Veronica said it was Maverick's gun" Jessica said.

"It was, we encountered some brotherhood outcasts there, we didn't kill them Veronica so don't worry" so said girl took a deep breath at that, "They were guarding the mainframe, it was more of a warning gunshot, but it basically shredder the ear of one of those guys apart" Maverick said, then his visage darkened, "They are just as Sarah and Dusk described, self-centered and too focused on their goals to see the bigger picture" he added.

"Don't blame them for that Maverick, most of them were born inside the brotherhood, and were raised with the codex on one arm and an elder chewing their ears off about what is expected of them" Veronica said, slowly standing up.

"Then why you didn't end up like them?" Sally asked.

"I…fell in love" was all Veronica said as she dusted herself off.

"Fair enough" Maverick added with a slight smile, "If we start walking we will make it to our objective, so let's not waste sun, I really don't want to find out how cold the wasteland gets at night"

The group nodded at Maverick's idea, picking themselves out and started to follow him as they departed, not aware of the eye following their moves.

* * *

><p>Sarah rubbed her forehead with her armored forearm, feeling the still cold metal taking away the sweat on her brow and cooling her off, in front of her lay the remains of yet another Enclave outpost, reduced to less that cinder and ash, two enclave troopers lay dead on her feet, their weapons not even fired once.<p>

"This is too easy" She commented, slightly kicking the armored side of the dead trooper she had killed.

"You complain about easy?" Dusk muttered at her side, "You really have changed Sarah" she added.

"Don't make me punch you Dawn" Sarah snapped, looking around the small encampment the troopers had, just as she had expected this was a scout outpost, communication arrays lay around, alongside with a radio and dish relays, at least now Three-Dog wouldn't have a problem with a dish relay if he lose the current one.

"Hey I'm just saying, I know you wouldn't complain about easy when it comes to the Enclave" Dusk replied.

"Maybe" Sarah replied, "But that was before by kidnapping, now I know better, nothing is as easy as one believes, this is proof of it, they are backing away"

"Good, they are afraid"

"They are not" Sarah said, slowly taking a step and rising her rifle, "They are amassing their forces, getting ready for something" Sarah said.

"With Liberty Prime and that human tank of Maverick with us I really doubt it, they massacred the outside force during the attack" Dusk stated, clearly remembering how Prime had totaled the vertibirds of the Enclave, and any trooper Prime didn't blasted to pieces of riddled with bullets, Maverick did finished them off.

"They are going to the defense" Sarah added, "They are abandoning non-essential equipment and fortifying their strongest bases, Vault 101, Adams base, Raven's Rock…it's going to be a war of attrition, of who gives in first" Sarah said, she held no illusions of a quick, clean victory, the Enclave fought always to win, no matter the odds, it was rare that the Enclave would actually flee, very rare, they would die fighting, defending their ground.

"Good" Dusk said, kneeling and taking one of the plasma rifles that was on the hands of the Enclave troopers, inspecting it with great detail, she, after all had never seen one so close, or used one herself.

"You think that Sally girl could make me a plasma sniper rifle if I get her the parts?" Dusk asked, knowing that while plasma was a little slower that laser and bullets, was deadlier than bullets due to the molecular damage dealt by the plasma bolt, and also since neither wind or gravity acted against the plasma bolt, unlike a bullet, making a sniper rifle out of a laser rifle or a plasma rifle was a viable alternative.

"Please" Sarah began, rolling her eyes; Dusk was already seeing it, a big, fat, no.

"Sally can make you something far better" Sarah added as she padded Dusk's armored shoulder, her gaze focused on the marching Liberty Prime, the massive doomsday weapon tearing any Enclave defense, let it be human or mechanical, then shifted her gaze to the horizon, seeing how the sun began to set in.

"Times do pass fast when you're having fun"

* * *

><p>"It's getting dark" Veronica mentioned, her eyes focused on the setting sun.<p>

"No really Sherlock" Sally snapped sarcastically, looking around, spotting several puddles of irradiated water, at first glance she could say that not only radiation lay on those puddles, she bets that all kinds of nasty chemicals float in those puddles, there was no other explanation to the fumes coming out of the puddles.

"Your dad is surely aiming high Maverick" Sally said, gaining Maverick's attention, "I can only think what kind of water he and your mother must have been working on, is not just radiation they have to deal in the water, if those puddles are an example of many massive water bodies around" Sally said, pointing at the puddles, "Then Project Purity is needed far more than expected, there is more humans than pure water"

Maverick said nothing, he just kept walking, the group close to him.

It wasn't five minutes later when he stopped, pulling OWB with a sneer, they group could see why, not far from their position were what seemed a school bus, an armored one, just like the one the chimera was transported, this one was in perfect condition, and it didn't seem to have guards around, parked in front of what seemed a still standing car garage.

"The Enclave got ahead of us" was all Maverick said, already advancing, Manuel and Jessica gave Maverick a glance, then followed, close behind Veronica and Sally, the last one intrigued by the vehicle.

"Interesting" she commented, gaining the attention of Jessica, "Fossil fuel ran out worldwide in 2077, barely a month before the Great War, to the Enclave have a vehicle that relies on fossil fuel means that they stocked on fuel before the war, that or this model is one of the very few buses that had fusion engines" Sally said, the group approaching the vehicle.

"Maverick, open the hood and lift me up" Maverick wanted to protest, to tell her that was dangerous, but he did as told nevertheless, lifting the hood, then lifting Sally up, sometimes Sally cursed her young body, it limited her greatly, well at least she would grow up now, without the special drug that was injected to her once every two months her body would start to get old at a normal rate, the drug had tricked her body into believing that regardless of the time passed, she was still on a young state, basically it had stopped her internal clock altogether, thus stopping her growth altogether, a true to the form potion of immortality, albeit the term would be far better a potion of eternal youth.

Pushing those thoughts aside Sally blinked when she saw the engine, "My, a jury rigged fusion engine working on fusion batteries, I'm surprised this thing hasn't blown up" Sally stated, motioning Maverick to put her down.

"The engine was done on this time, I guess, what two to three years, a lot of testing I can see" Sally mentioned off handy, "Beyond that as I stated before, I'm surprised this thing is still working, let alone not a hole on the ground, I can work on it and make it safer, or trick it to blow itself up, your call Mavi" Sally said.

"Leave it be Sally, right now I care more for my father than Enclave killing" Maverick snapped, looking at the vehicle with some content, and some contained ire, they had now means of mobilization, but it as Enclave means of mobilization, only God knows what that thing has inside, and how many soldiers carried inside.

"They must be inside, be careful, they pack energy weapons" Maverick directed his words to Manuel and Jessica, both knew this already of course, the Enclave was an enemy of the NCR, rangers and soldiers had sworn to hunt down every enclave loyalist and supporter, until their name was just a whisper in the American Wasteland.

"I agree with Maverick, this could easily help us escape in a rush…uh, does anyone knows how to drive anyway?" Manuel asked.

"I do, dad pretty much taught me on his lap on a converga, I guess is the same with a bus" Sally said, "I can teach Veronica how to drive it, Maverick can be a little tactless when he wants to"

"Ha-ha, very funny, says the girls who needs my help to climb the stairs"

"Why you"

The trio of adults simply shook their heads, already used to the antics of Sally and Maverick up to this point.

"Did we arrive to our location?" Jessica asked to Maverick, the former dweller looked to his pip-boy, and then nodded.

"Yep, this is vault 112, or at least it is inside" Maverick said.

"But we should be careful, the Enclave might be inside already, if worse comes to worse" Sally trailed off.

"It won't" Maverick said, moving to the entrance of the garage and opening the door, the group following him immediately.

Once inside, the group noted that the place, once a mechanic's garage and workshop for cars had acted somehow as a small shelter to those unable to enter vault 112, or those who sought shelter after the nuclear fallout, after all anything with a ceiling without holes and four sturdy walls was a far better alternative that the collapsed ruins that was the city during the black rain days.

Once inside and on the garage itself, they noted that a metallic trap door was opened, exposing a set of metallic stairs up to the basement, surely leading to the entrance of Vault 112.

The group followed the stairs down, seeing at least five dead molerats, all with smoking holes on their bodies, evidence of energy weapon usage.

They kept pressing downwards, eventually reaching a small hall with concrete walls, a massive cog door lay open wide on the other side, Maverick slightly turned nostalgic, reminiscing the first and only time he had seen the vault door open, from both sides.

"It brings me back" Maverick said in a whisper, gripping OWB a little harder, then advancing, the group following.

It wasn't long before they reached the vault atrium properly, Sally had to admit, she was impressed, and the constructions of the vaults had been loud, now she understood why, she was also surprised by the sheer size of what was inside the atrium.

"Is this normal on every vault?" she asked.

"No" Maverick hissed, looking at the massive mechanical tower in the middle of the atrium, long, thick cables attached to the base of the tower, alongside what seemed…tubes of some sort, pods it seemed, each one of the pods had a computer on their right side.

"The hell is this place?" Maverick wondered out loud.

"Don't know Maverick, but we found a lot of medical supplies on the adjacent room" Manuel said, guiding Maverick and Sally to the room he said, there Maverick eyes widened.

"Holy hell, this is better stocked that 101 own infirmary" Maverick hissed.

"This is…troubling" Sally mumbled, "And we yet have to see the Enclave that came here" she added, eyes darting around.

"Fully stocked infirmary rooms, even more than in some hospitals, and some sort of…something in the atrium, with pods attached to it…I really don't know what to think" Maverick mumbled, making his way down to the pods, leaving the group on his own.

"This is freaky Jessica, far more than those vaults found in the Mojave" Manuel stated to the ranger at his side, catching Veronica's attention, "We need to get out of here" he added.

"Not yet, we need to find Maverick's dad, the enclave wants him, we can't let them have him" Veronica snapped.

"I know that, but right now we are in a ever bad position, an unknown vault with an unknown number of hostiles, this is an ugly scenario for every kind of soldier, even us rangers, besides vaults are known for housing…some fucked up shit to be honest" Manuel stated with finality.

"Way I heard it, some scouts stumbled with a vault in what used to be New York, the vault atrium was filled to the brim with zombies, god to honest zombies, not ghouls nor ferals, flesh eating brain chewing zombies, and that's just scrapping the surface on the vault issue" Jessica mentioned.

"Another scout team found a tiger skeleton of all things inside a vault" Manuel said, and then he began to mention a lot of strange, if not crazy things that made Sally actually blink.

"A…tiger skeleton?" Sally asked, as far as she knew, tigers were extinct, the forests on Asia were their homes, homes that got leveled during the crisis of 2070 and the Great War, only one thing could come to her mind at the moment she heard that.

"What the hell Vault-tec was thinking? A tiger?" she mumbled to herself.

"Oh you think that's odd, two vaults found about…five years ago were the oddest, we found one where in the general population there was just one man in over a two hundred women during the Great War…lucky asshole" Manuel said.

"On the other hand, other vault had the situation inverted, two hundred guys for one single girl…I really feel it for that bitch" Jessica said with a shake of her head, Sally did the same, that girl surely was the un-luckiest woman in the world.

"Good God!" Maverick's sudden outburst made the group actually look to his position on the bottom floor, there he was, staring at the interior of one of the pods, face planted in utter shock.

"Guys! GUYS! Come here now!" Maverick called, panic flooding his voice, the group did as told, more out of curiosity, panic was a rarity in Maverick, taking in consideration the fact he is virtually un-killable by anything in the American Wasteland, very few things being able to actually hurt him or outright kill him, hearing his panicked voice made them rethink that, his body might be invulnerable, but not his mind.

When they arrived, they saw what had made Maverick panic; he didn't find his father inside of one of the pods, that was for sure, instead, once they arrived, saw what he had found.

Inside the pods was, what seemed to be, well preserved, mummified and alive humans, they could see the rise and fall of the chest of the mummified remains, what was scarier that anything was that the alive mummy had its eyes opened, moving and darting around, despite the fact that the eyes were basically a bubble of fluid and not receiving any kind of image.

"Good god, what the hell is going on this place?" Manuel said, gripping his Anti-materiel rifle a little harder than usual, Jessica was not far behind him, doing the same with her SMG.

"Odd" Sally said, scanning one of the consoles near the pod, working on the keyboard and her eyes dancing on the screen, "Incredible, this is really advanced tech" Sally began.

"How advanced?" Veronica wondered, seeing how Maverick to scan each pod, fearing his dad might be a mummy now.

"Advanced enough to keep people alive, even if they lack water, food and any way to breathe" Sally began, "These pods, whoever build them made sure they were made to last, not only that, the pods monitor the user's vitals, seems to supplement some sort of nutrient from which the user lives on, which might explain why they look like mummies, the nutrient forced the body to feed on its own body fat, which might explain why the first vital records of the user put him with a severe case of overweight, had they been fit they would have died a hundred years ago" Sally said.

"So…they are like, hibernating?" Jessica asked.

"Forced hibernation would be the words, but yeah, but this is different, animals usually hibernate to pass a season they know they can't live on if they were active, they eat a lot before hibernation and the body uses the body fat stored to supplement the body with the required nutrients, thing is that most seasons back in the day didn't last more than three months, four tops, in here we are talking about extreme in all senses, if I'm right, and I do hope I'm not, then the nutrient given to the people inside the pods not only forces the body to feed on its own body fat, but any kind of nutrient within the body, which might explain the lack of muscles and strong skeleton, basically their hearts and nervous system is working on a bare minimum, the rest is…non-existent, the body ate it up to keep on working" Sally said with a grimace, stepping away of the console.

"This is no way of living on stasis, is too extreme, whoever is subjected to this is most assuredly will not have a life to live if it goes beyond the year" Sally stated grimly, "Your dad is lucky we got out at the time we did, right now his muscles must be weakened, and might be a little thinner than you remember, but he will be alive" she directed that to Maverick, the frantic dweller slightly nodding, still looking for his dad.

"But…where is the Enclave soldiers, there was a vehicle outside" Veronica wondered.

"I just found them" Maverick answered, looking at five pods, each one filled with a still fresh looking enclave soldiers, their helmet-less head showing their faces, they still looked young and fit compared to the rest.

"This is not right" Maverick muttered, "It seems they entered…willingly" Maverick added.

"I doubt it" Manuel said, his finger pointing at what seemed a pool of dried up blood.

"It's a sizable amount of blood, whoever got wounded never made it beyond the atrium" Maverick muttered, his experience as a medic letting him immediately describe, much to the group's shock, how the man surely died.

"By the look of the pool of blood, whatever attacked him aimed to either the carotid artery or the femoral artery, surely the carotid, it must have been a shock for the troopers, there is no signs of scorch around, they didn't fire a shot" Maverick muttered, "I really don't understand what could have made five Enclave troopers wearing power armors and armed to bear, to back down?" Maverick said out loud, looking at Sally straight in the eye, hoping she might have the answer.

"Don't know, must have been something really mean to do so…or perhaps they entered, hoping to find answers, leaving the sixth guy alone to defend them in case something happened, then he got killed" Sally said.

"Makes more sense" Manuel said, "If these pods are for preservation" Manuel glanced at the still working Sally, the little girl suddenly narrowed her eyes, slamming her hands on the keyboard.

"Someone just blocked access to the console" she said sternly, making her way to another console, then grunting when she saw the same on that console.

"We are definitely not alone, someone just blocked access to all the consoles" Sally snarled angrily.

"Can't you hack your way back?" Veronica wondered, seeing how Maverick moved around, looking for his father in one of the pods.

"No can do, the consoles are attached to a main terminal, a hub, whoever did this restricted any kind of entrance to the consoles, if I want full access I need to find the main terminal" Sally said, gazing at the pods.

"Yet something rubs me the wrong way" she added, her eyes focused on the living mummies inside the pods, the eyes slightly focused on the monitors in front of them, what seemed needles attached to the flanks of the monitors and slightly touching the sides of the head of the…

"No" Sally whispered, immediately walking to Maverick, she found him looking at one of the pods, when she looked, she found herself staring at Maverick's father, he was old, grey mated his hair and unkempt beard, his vault jumpsuit was as dirty as his face, not to mention that he looked thin, but he looked better than the rest.

"I've found him" Maverick whispered, looking at his dad, tracing his hand over the glass of the pod, "I so want to break the glass and pluck him out" he added as he looked at Sally.

"Don't, this is alien tech" she stated, gaining Maverick's attention, "These are not preservation pods, these are VR pods" Sally began, "It was old tech the alien used, for torture, they put you on a pod, send your mind to a virtual reality shaped to make you feel comfortable, then they twist it, they kill you over, and over, and over, and the worse part of it, you can't get out" she whispered, looking at the pod with revulsion.

"If you break the glass you risk your dad into going into shock, you can kill him if you do that" she added, looking at the pod harshly, to Maverick, it seemed that Sally had some skeletons in her closet regarding her 200 years stay on board the space station.

"We need to find the main console, from there I can access the entire network, pull your dad out of whatever virtual reality his conscious is placed in safely, and then euthanize the others" Sally said, Maverick didn't objected with her plan, the poor people inside the pods were more dead than alive, killing them was an act of mercy, not murder, letting them live like that was the crime.

"Still" Maverick began, "I am worried to leave the main hub, you saw the amount of blood on the floor, and the lack of a body suggest that there is something inside the vault, beside us"

"I concluded as much" Sally said, tapping her chin, "It could be anything, all things considering, a robot gone rogue, a raider looking for, I can't believe I'm thinking this, meat, perhaps another robot under direct orders of whoever closed my access" Maverick could detect some hostility of Sally in that last sentence, it was obvious Sally didn't like that little stun of the guy that stopped her attempts to release her father.

"Whatever was, it's not going to live beyond the day if I have a say about it" Sally snapped angrily.

Maverick was about to say something about her sudden blood urge, but stopped, so far of what he had heard about the vaults, they didn't seem to have acted as safe guards for humanity, at least most of them, the zombie vault on New York, or what was left of the city anyway, the Mojave vaults, the Capital Wasteland vaults, the so called Necropolis that he had just heard in a passing conversation of Manuel and Jessica, all pointed to either neglect of Vault-Tec to make the proper preparations for the fallout that came, miscalculations that led to the current state of many vaults, either abandoned or overrun by something that came of the outside, like raiders, or perhaps something far worse.

Experiments within the vault, with the residents not knowing about it, it was something of a long shot, and he hoped he was wrong on that regard.

But if he was right, if the true purpose of the vault was not for safeguarding, but for experiments, then it meant that this vault was a huge ongoing experiment, one with human lives, one that had to be stopped, and whoever kept it going had to die, for the good of everyone.

"Okay Sally, you know where to go?" Maverick asked.

"Yeah, just remember this Maverick" Sally began, looking at Maverick, "We and your dad are the only ones who will leave the vault before it blows" was all she said, Maverick felt as little uneasy with that remark of Sally, most vaults used fusion plants to power up the many machines inside, other vaults used geothermic energy to work, granted those vaults were small and had to be placed near a natural lava river to take advantage of the heat, and he was most certain this vault worked on fusion energy, what Sally was suggesting was to set the reactor into overload and see from the outside how a big crater was made from an underground fusion explosion, surely a sight to behold, it is not a nuclear weapon with the ability to erase a city of the face of the planet or a death ray being fired from orbit, but it will be a sight to behold.

"Okay then, wait here while I talk with the others, then we look for the main hub" Sally nodded at his reasoning, truth to be told she didn't had a reason to, she was brain, he was brawn, her plan required brains, his brawn was just a little back-up if something went south.

She observed how he talked with the group, surely telling them that if someone made it inside, or if a robot appeared, they should shoot it, or so she gathered, the 'shoot first ask questions later' had become the norm in this new world, she wasn't surprised by this, many cops back in the day used to do this, they were punished of course, there were laws back then, now they weren't.

This was good for her, she hadn't told Maverick the whole truth about how her father had found her mother, she didn't lied about the fact some of her dad died the moment he found mom, the thing was with who he had found her…and her confession, the confession that killed him, the confession that tore her and Julia up, the truth that still haunted her, that now would find resolution.

When he returned, she bit her inner lip slightly, she hated lying to Maverick, he had been kind to her, and he had helped her.

"_One more lie, just one more" _she told herself, she needed this, to end this, after this…after this it was just closure, to see what it was denied to her, to see the country, then perhaps, the world.

"Okay Sally, lead up" he said, Sally took a deep breath, leading Maverick away of the atrium, logic dictated that the deeper you went, the safer you were, in a vault going down meant going to sub-levels that had hazardous materials, like the reactor, that also meant that Braun's little base of operation was on the deeper levels.

It didn't took much of them to reach the sub-levels, Maverick even told her this was by far a small vault, with just two floor and three sub-floors, while 101 had four fours and at least six sub-floors, the last one being the one of the reactor and water purification system.

They checked the first two sub-floors, nothing but spare parts for the pods, which was shocking since there was no visible thing that could actually do repairs to the pods if they broke, that ended when they reached the last sub-floor, the reactor room, it had also a water purification room as well, which apparently was standard on all vaults.

Of course water was a mute point to a vault full of mummified beings that could exit the pods, let alone move.

"Why they would put a water supply to a place where most of its resident would be dead?" Maverick wondered.

"It was not for the residents" Sally began, drawing her Novasurge, "It was for the only resident around…Braun" Sally hissed, Maverick detected a lot of hostility from her by just mentioning that name, before she hadn't done nothing that hinted hate against Braun, but now…

"Sally?" Maverick asked.

"It is a long, painful story Maverick" Sally began, "One I will tell you once I deal with Braun" Sally stated, to Maverick it was obvious the hate Sally had for Braun, if not for her voice, it was for her posture, the way she was acting, whatever Braun had done to her family on the past, it was finally catching up with him, question was of course, what he had done to warrant Sally's apparent wrath.

As they walked to the last room, frustration was visible on Sally's face, it was obvious she was about to explode if she didn't found Braun, and he was also getting a little edgy, because if they didn't found Braun or the console used to restrict Sally's access, then his dad would be trapped on the pod, for good.

The last room was, like the rest, empty, Sally was ready to pull her hair off but was stopped by Maverick who made it to one of the walls, then tapped it 'lightly' on one of the edges.

'Lightly' meaning ramming his fist three times on the wall hard, Sally saw how the wall bended upon the impacts, much to Maverick's surprise.

"It's a fake wall" Maverick said, motioning Sally to him, "All vault rooms have concrete made walls with steel reinforcements on the other end, it is so close to each other that when you hit them hard enough you can hear the metal sound, only upper floor halls have pure concrete walls and sub-levels are pure metal walls, I think we have him" Maverick said.

"Nice, can you open it?" Sally asked, Maverick seemed to ponder it for some time, then he reached for the bended edges, and began to pull.

Sally took several steps back as she saw Maverick open the fake wall forcefully, the sound of groaning pistons trying to keep the wall closed was music to her ears, now it was just a matter of Maverick adding a little extra strength and the pistons would give in, and then the only thing separating Maverick of opening the fake wall would be the wall's own weight, which was considerable, but not enough to stop him.

Soon she saw how Maverick forced the wall open wide, and turned to her, a small smile directed to her, one she mimicked as she approached him and entered the hidden room.

"Hot damn" Sally began, seeing the massive computer on the other end of the room that occupied a whole wall, easily making her way to it, ignoring the glass like floor on her feet, Maverick didn't, and noted how steam was trapped on the other end of the glass floor, cables barely visible and covered in frost.

"Sally" Maverick called, "You do realize we are walking on a glass made floor, right?" he asked to the small genius.

"It is not glass, is Plexiglas" Sally called, reaching the massive computer, "Glass would have shattered with the difference of temperatures on both outside and inside" she stated.

"So…we are walking on plastic, swell"

"You should worry with what's under the Plexiglas Mavi, you think it was cold when you woke up in the space station, that is nothing compared down there" Sally said, turning to Maverick.

"The temperature below us is minus 50, below the freezing point, you stick your hand and I assure you mavi, you will have to scrape frozen skin so new one can grow back" Sally stated casually.

"…I can grow my skin back?" Maverick asked.

"Yeah, in case you actually get wounded, cellular tissue is stimulated to a hyper-accelerated rate by the nanites inside you, the wound close fast, in the matter of minutes, in case of serious wounds it can take an hour, unless the object that caused the trauma still remains" Sally said.

"But I have scars Sally, right where the Deathclaw took a sweep at me" Maverick said, pointing at the tri-linear scar of the Deathclaw claw on his face.

"It is different, I really don't know what the claws of those monsters are made, but they are sharp enough to cut you up and make think the nanites is too much of a wound to close, to scar tissue is made instead of healthy new tissue, fascinating"

"Well I guess they are Deathclaws for a reason" Maverick said, standing at Sally's side.

"That they are, I guess a Deathclaw and a cosmic knife are the only things that can outright hurt you, alongside gauss rounds" Sally said, working on the computer keyboard.

"Just three things?" Maverick asked.

"Yeah, radiation makes you stronger, the nanites feed on radiation, and we live on a really irradiated world, a mini-nuke would only make you stronger, I don't know if a EMP grenade would hurt you, since part of you is cybernetic" Sally added.

"I guess I don't wanna find out with a spinal cord made out of nanites" Sally nodded with a small smile on her lips, still working on the console.

A small silence descended over as Sally worked on the console, the typing of a keyboard being the only sound made.

"Sally" Maverick began, breaking the silence, "You seem to hate Braun, and don't try to deny it" Sally stopped working altogether, "What he did in your time that made you hate him so much?"

"…Do you really wanna know?" Sally asked, still looking at the massive computer, and resuming her work, "You have helped me in ways I can't even begin to thank you Maverick, you gave me back my freedom, my life…I guess is fair you know what Braun did to my family, to me" Sally said, stopping working again, and turning to face Maverick.

"Remember when I told you about mom? How we found her" Maverick nodded, "Buried under our home, barely holding herself to see us, thing was that she wasn't alone" Sally stated.

"That day we found another person in the house, his head crushed like an egg over the TV" Sally began, "That person was Braun's personal assistant, that asshole…that…bastard" Sally seemed to redden at the invocation of that day, growing angry, Maverick swore her blue eyes darkened and turned purple, if just for a second.

"Mom…mom told us that guy was there on Braun's behalf, looking for me and my sister" Sally said, "Before we were born, mom and dad had a turbulent relationship, apparently dad, on a night of drinks with his friends, ended up sleeping with his sergeant, a woman at that time, nothing happened, drunken one night stand, yet the guilt tore him, he told mom, and she…well at that time she worked on Vault-Tec, and she worked under Braun and…"

"Say no more, I get it" Maverick said.

"No you don't, you see, mom did slept with Braun, but neither Julia or I were product of that mistake, eventually mom and dad patched things up, then Julia was born, and three years later I was born, all was well, until Braun came one night, when I was eight" Sally hissed.

"Bastard basically demanded me and Julia, claiming we were his children, you see Braun is sterile, even if he wanted to he couldn't have children, eventually the Braun line ended with him, which was good for the world, but apparently the heads of Vault-Tec didn't like it one bit, they didn't want their wizard scientist lineage to die out, so they cooked this bullshit that Julia and I were his daughters, born out of two relationships with my mother, I would be bearing the name Braun if it wasn't for uncle House intervention" Sally said.

"Have you ever heard the term 'never bet against the house' well uncle House sure reminded them, DNA samples showed that we were in fact not the daughters of Braun, at that time I was small, I didn't give a damn about it, but Julia was big enough to understand, she explained to me once mom died, anyway" Sally continued.

"Back to my mom, we found her, her legs crushed under a support beam of the house, partially naked, with signs of struggle, and a bullet hole on her stomach, radiation, dust and general wounds had made her condition bad, the bastard, on Braun's command, went to our home, armed, hoping that with the end of the world, he could kill us all, then turn his attention of uncle House, the assistant however wanted more, he tried to rape mom, mom resisted, he shot her, and as she fell, the house fell on them, he died, mom agonized, when we found her she confessed, she confessed it all, and something else, something that killed us all, mom was pregnant again" Maverick grimaced at that, Sally slightly chocked on her words.

"I was going to be a big sister too, somehow Braun knew it, and got himself sure that not another House was born, and he succeeded, he killed my brother or sister, he killed mom, he killed dad" Sally there snarled, and turned to the console, working even harder than ever.

"And I want him dead for what he has done"

Maverick simply stood at Sally's side, eventually letting his hand rest on her shoulder, Sally sighed, slowing a little on her work, "Whenever Braun is involved, lives seem to be snuff out, the people he hates end up dead, or worse, broken, I can't let that happen again, if that man is truly alive in stasis…I have to end him, for the sake of the world…or what's left of it anyway" Maverick chuckled at that.

"I'm with you on this Sally, I hold him while you beat him up" he joked, Sally slightly smiled, then turned serious again, looking at the console, and narrowing her eyes.

"He know we are here, expect company, show no mercy" she said, immediately Maverick had turned around, pulling OWB and aiming it at the only entrance of the room, Sally working on the console behind him.

Eventually the company in question made itself know, two securitrons, they seemed new, surely also on their own charging stations and preserved until activated.

The two bots turned to Maverick; they didn't last long when he let out two shots at them, their torsos being torn apart by the super-sonic rounds.

"I'm in" Sally said.

"I dealt with the problems" Maverick added as he turned to Sally, looking at the console.

"I heard…well Braun is here, still living" Sally snarled, looking at the console and the amount of info appearing on the massive screen in front of them.

"Braun was the overseer of this vault, but some mail suggests he was involved in some sort of project outside the vault allotted parameters, an experiment of some sort" Maverick cursed when Sally spoke this.

"Dammit, I knew it, it couldn't be such a coincidence so many vaults failed and had odd ends, it was all an experiment…but for what" Maverick said, leaning to the console and resting his hands on the board itself.

"Don't know, the mails don't go into detail, but I see that Braun was directly responsible for the activations of the vaults, hell he even chose were to put them, but he seemed to take more interest on 112 and its residents" Sally said, suddenly bringing a mail on the screen.

"See this one, this is dated two years and a month before the great War, Braun demanded that every future resident of 112 were to gain at least 250 pounds of fat or they wouldn't be allowed entrance, so he knew about the side-effects of the pods" Sally muttered, brining then another mail, this one however was different.

"How odd" Maverick began, reading the mail, "It seems that Braun actually commissioned a fail-safe for the project, a kill-switch" Maverick added, turning to Sally.

"Read it all, it says that all pod users will be killed, Braun won't because of his executive status special protection, we use that and only Braun will live, the others, including your dad will die" Sally said, "Even more, Constantine Chase actually gave it the green light to install it…but under protest and stating that officially it was denied, the wonders of military eh?" Sally asked with a crooked grin, Maverick just shook his head.

"Can you get my dad from here?" he asked.

"Easy as pie, give me a second…done" Sally said with a smile, "Your dad is pulled out of the simulation, it is safe to pull him out of the pod without causing him damage, besides the fact he might be thinner than you remember" Maverick gave Sally a grateful smile, "Now to free this people, and the Enclave soldiers inside, of this torment" Sally said.

"**YOU WILL NOT REMOVE MY PLAYTHINGS CHILD!"**

Sally and Maverick recoiled at the sudden booming voice that echoed on the room, next thing Sally or Maverick knows is that the door behind them is closed shut, by itself, and the wall on their left begins to open, revealing another pod, one that had some sort of dish on the front, a glowing blue disk, the inside of the pod was darkened by what seemed mist emanating from within.

"Braun" Sally said, pulling Novasurge and aiming it at the pod, alongside Maverick, "You don't have any idea how much I have dreamed with killing you now"

"**YOU DELUSIONAL, PETULANT CHILD, YOU THINK YOU'RE MY SUPERIOR? MY EQUAL? I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU AND YOUR FAMILY PERSONALLY INSTEAD OF SENDING MY FOOL OF A ASSISTANT"**

"You took everything from me Braun, I'm about to return you the favor, with just one push of a button" Sally said with some edge of maniac glee.

"**YOU WILL NOT DO SUCH A THING CHILD, I OWN YOU! YOUR LIFE, AND IN EXTEND THE LIFE OF EVERY PERSON OUTSIDE THE PODS IS MINE! MY VAULT! MY RULES!"**

"You sound like Alphonse" Maverick hissed, "Sally, pull the plug, make the bastard suffer"

"With pleasure" she said as she turned to the console and began to type, Maverick had to suddenly recoil in shock when the pod that surely contained Braun's body began to sizzle with electricity, and something began to shake inside, like if something tried to exit the pod, then seized completely.

"…" Sally simply stared at the pod in disdain, rising her gun and firing a single round to the crystal, breaking it and causing to whatever was inside to suffer a great deal, this was confirmed when the smoke settled in, and exposed a writhed, old looking mummy like body, a burned hole on its stomach, cables connected all over the arms, legs and neck of the mummy, its face twisted in pain.

"My…child…" it spoke.

"I am not your child, and you're dead" she added, lifting her gun, and then firing.

Maverick and Sally didn't bate an eyelash as the mummified body of Stanislaus Braun was reduced to a green paste, the cables falling freely at the lack of a body.

"…It is done" Sally said with a solemn tone, lowering her gun, then turning to the computer, "Activating the kill-switch" she added, pressing a single button, she ended the life of over fifty doomed and very grateful people who had lived the nightmare fabricated by Braun.

"…I just passed control to one of the consoles in the atrium, I will be able to overload the core from there, plenty of time to grab your dad and run" sally said stoically.

"Sally…don't act tough, we both know that one thing is killing in self-defense, other is killing cold blood" Maverick said, seeing how Sally took a deep breath, it was ragged and slightly cracked.

"…it's not easy okay" Sally said, "You might think that I enjoy killing, considering all the shit I have seen, the aliens were butchers, the Great War was brutal, I saw too much, I guess at one point, killing someone would not affect me, I mercy killed of course, whenever I was able to leave my cell I would put down whoever I crossed my path, men, women, children, I became…a pint sized grim reaper, no feelings, no nothing, I became detached" she stated, turning to Maverick.

"I lasted a hundred years doing that, releasing anyone I crossed out of their misery, hell even some aliens, they weren't picky with who they experimented with" Sally said, slowly walking away.

"Then what changed?" Maverick wondered.

For a moment, Sally stopped, her hand over the closed door, "…I killed a baby" Sally said, her eyes haunted, Maverick could easily see the pain she held, the suffering, the agony of that action.

"It was held in tubes, tubes on his nose, mouth…under his skin, every time he cried he bled, every time he opened his eyes…there were only sockets…that baby was experimented with the same procedure that gave you the unbreakable bones, on an adult, fully developed, it is either life or death, but on a baby…developing, growing, it was agony, pure agony" Sally, much to Maverick's shock, shed just one tear.

"He was hooked to life support, it was just a matter of…disconnecting and tearing the cables, to ensure he wouldn't suffer anymore and no one would connect him anymore" Sally whispered, "It was my last mercy kill…until today" Sally added, feeling Maverick's hand on her shoulder, she leaned on him for comfort, the one thing she never had during those days.

"Let's get out of here; I'm sick of this place"

* * *

><p>Pain, his body was not indifferent to pain, a life on the wasteland, between raiders, scavengers, super mutants, the physical, and the ache of seeing colleagues and loved ones die in front of him without being able to do nothing to stop it and seeing how his dreams slip away like the sand of the wasteland on his fingertips, the ones of the heart and soul, it was a wonder why he never turned to be a drunk and beat his son just to let some steam out.<p>

But he knew better, he was better, he was raised on a vault before, but was forced to leave it, but the lessons inside went with him for life, and Catherine's own influence alongside his son own morals had cemented his own moral standing, but not the habit of gamble it all on a last, dare roll of the dices.

Apparently, like last time, it had nearly killed him, but it had paid off, Braun had confirmed his suspicious, a fully functional GECK would be able to complete the missing link that prevents the dirty water to become pure water.

Then Braun captured him in a dog's body, a dog's body of all things! While it surely gave life a new perspective, and he enjoyed the life of a dog, licking himself included, he had a mission to complete, but Braun was like a god on his VR simulation, he was pretty sure he was trapped for life there, until he felt himself slip away, and see Braun's avatar in the VR, a little girl, being torn apart by invisible forces.

That's the last thing he remembers anyway, as for now he felt in pain, but fine, he did felt a little lighter, but overall he was alive, which was good, with a groan he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the dull grey roof, with pre-war propaganda stuck on flaps on the sides of the roof, with rails on the ceiling as well, second he felt motion, like jerking, the third was the slight hum of a sound, something he tried to pinpoint, but was unable to remember well, groaning he slowly sat up, holding his sides in slight pain.

"Maverick! He's awake!" James groaned as he heard that scream, it was feminine and obviously of a child, he groaned even more when the jerking motion stopped abruptly, alongside the small hum of the sound of an engine, something he hadn't heard for a long time, back in his childhood.

As his sight focused well enough, he turned around, spotting a small blond girl, seated on a worn out bus leather seat, looking at him directly on the eyes, a small smile on her face, looking even further he saw two…NCR soldiers? They were seated on the front of the vehicle, one sleeping apparently, the other looking outside via the window, a large sniper rifle held on his hands.

Then he looked even further forward, seeing a woman in ragged robes, he could see the outlines of armor platting under her ragged robes, she looked like a pre-war beggar, if you ignore the power fist on her hands, then he saw the last person on the group, seated on the driver's seat, and as the man stood up, James felt elation and dread.

His son, his little maverick, there he was, clad in the same uniform a desert ranger, but black, his face bore a tri-linear scar like claw, but he was still Maverick, the same eyes, the same hair, the same smile.

"Dad" Maverick spoke, approaching him with some trepidation, James didn't blame him, he had pretty much left him without any kind of info or good reason, of course his own son was anxious but wary of welcoming him.

"My son" James said, slowly standing up, but before he could even move, Maverick was on him, hugging him, he sensed that Maverick was holding on his hug, usually he could feel how the blood on his arms to stop when he hugged him.

"Dad" Maverick said, slowly releasing of the hug, and holding him firmly by the shoulders, looking at him squarely in the eyes.

"You got some explaining to do mister" the blond girl said, slowly pulling a plasma gun, and holding it loosely.

James felt he should have stayed in the pod.

* * *

><p><strong><em>there you go people, another chapter done and gone, longer thatn took me, and taking some examples of other writers, i was able to correct some of my most glaring mistakes, like the one people didn't knew who was talking.<em>**

**_anyway I hope you have liked the chapter, the small button under these words is meant to you guys let me know what you liked and didn't like, so use it with abandon, don't hold back, let me know what you think._**

**_till a next time people, Hypn0s signs off._**


	13. 12: Justice for all

_**Hell my readers, it is I, Hypn0s, with another chapter of the chornicles of Maverick, which i might say, is looking good now.**_

_**Now my fellow readers and authors, i want to share something with you, for some time I have been toying with the idea of separating the story on two parts, one would be the current one, called the Chornicles of Maverick, changed lives, this one still has life, as i want to take it to a long ride for all over the fallout 3 world and many more things, mods included, i love them, the Pitt will be included, so will be Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta has already been covered and i won't cover the operation Anchorage because it is too short, Broken Steel would apear here, but as a butchered version, and i plan to include a small prelude to either Dead Money or Honest Hearts, your choice guys, as an ending for this story.**_

_**Then it would follow a second story, which title i have yet to work on, and will include the New Vegas events, Old world Blues, Dead Money or Honest Hearts depending of your former choice and Lonesome Road, all with the AU flavor I added for this story.**_

_**So without further adeu, i give you the next chapter, i have taken into heart some reviews, and i plan to make my chapters shorter, so i can get my ideas more defined, guess what? it works!**_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 12: JUSTICE FOR ALL<strong>

_"The personal, as everyone's so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference—the only difference in their eyes—between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's they way of the world, it's a tough life, and that it's nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal."  
>-Quellcrist Falconer<em>

The wasteland is an odd place, anyone living in it has seen their share of odd and strange things, most of these things tended to lead to horrible demises, since those odd things tended to be something too deadly for the viewer.

To James, this was a rule still standing, a little girl was basically scolding him, holding a heavy looking plasma gun while his son looked amused in the sidelines, not even bothered in helping him, and he was still too tired to even answer to the girl.

"And another thing" the girl seemed to go on and on without any kind of limit, that was until Maverick stepped in, placing a hand on her head, this stopped her altogether.

"What Sally means to say is that you didn't see the mummies on the pods and you entered one without knowing what was going on, you got lucky dad" Maverick said sternly, only in a post-apocalyptic world the son can scold the father in such a way and get away with it.

"Well son, you never saw me play poker and caravan, let's say the men there were angry to me for entirely different reasons" James stated with a cocky smile, one that slightly faltered when his son raised an eyebrow at his direction and crossed his arms.

"Oh, and here I thought it was because you had banged their wives" Maverick said.

"Weeellll…I DO have needs son"

Maverick just groaned as he palmed his face, only he could have a father who admitted had bedded married women, on a closed community living underground.

"…I don't have half-brothers or half-sisters?" Maverick asked.

"Of course not" James scoffed, slowly standing up, the little girl know as Sally stood up as well, holstering her plasma pistol, but still keeping an eye on him he noted.

"Good" Maverick said, and then before James could react, Maverick had grabbed him by the sides of his arms, and actually lifted him up, like nothing.

"With that cleared you might want to explain to me why in the name of Zion you left me with Alphonse the asshole and let in four dozen of radroaches?" Maverick asked sternly.

"Four dozen? They were just five when I opened the door, not four dozen" James said, "And even more so why you are outside, I left you for a reason, the wasteland is dangerous, the vault was the only safe place I could leave you, you didn't need your old man anymore" James said, Maverick just lowered him to the ground, but still held a stern look on his face.

"…dad…they killed Jonas" Maverick said, looking at James straight in the eye, "They…bashed his head open…I got the bastard who did it, I broke Alphonse's arm with the bat you found" James shook his head at that.

"Dad, things got bad, the guards were shooting at everything, and I mean everything, me, the radroaches…the Holden's, they didn't made it, then the fires, god dad, Christine was burned beyond recognition, if it wasn't for her eyes…and Monica, they lost their mother, and Amata…Marcus ended up dead and somehow I got blamed by it, not to mention Amata has completely flipped" Maverick said.

James blinked, several times, hard, trying to process all his son had said to him, "Okay son…let's take it back…slowly, okay?" Maverick hated when he said that, it meant that he would have to talk, a lot, explain, a lot, he hated it.

"Okay (sigh) but it will take a while…"

_**One hour later…**_

James blinked, when he asked an explanation he didn't expect his son to tell him in vivid detail how he had led a charge with a gigantic robot, or how he had caused an engine fall under a Legion legate who had been genetically and surgically altered to be strong, stronger than his son was.

He was still assimilating the fact that his son had been kidnapped upon exit of the vault, sold as a thing and experimented as a lab rat, turning him into a walking juggernaut, he was still reeling for the fact the little girl, Sally had been among those experimented, a true made savant, and that she had fired at Maverick when he didn't believe his son was bullet, laser and plasma proof.

Maverick didn't like it, he said plasma left his skin oddly warm and squishy, like if he was hit with a warmed up cram.

James was shocked of course, his son was…for the lack of better words, hounding for him, basically turning the Capital Wasteland upside down just to look for him, the fact the Enclave had been attacking and had seized Project Purity not long ago made his sick on the stomach, he knew about them, about their 'solution' their goals, he was glad Project Purity was free, he was not so trilled of the idea of his son killing and maiming any enclave trooper within striking distance with a, what Sally called it? Oh yeah, kinetic proton axe, a mace for anything living, a freaking cutting laser against anything robotic, or metallic.

"Dude, you killed Lanius!" James turned to the NCR ranger, the man, while had his face hidden, could swear was smiling from ear to ear, "You know you're going to be rich and famous back in California" he added.

"They are going to give you a medal as big as my head" the female ranger said, "Made out of gold kid, and the bounty, oh man, the bounty for Lanius is hefty, you and Sally are going to be very well accommodated financially" she added.

"Jessica, Manuel, I don't think they will give Maverick a medal without a corpse to confirm Lanius demise" Veronica said.

"Who cares, Lanius hasn't been seen in a long time, now Maverick says that the guy was consumed in an underground reactor explosion that was ten times bigger than the one Sally made in Vault 112, if Lanius ain't dead then I'll eat my shorts, in front of President Kimball" Manuel replied.

Maverick just shook his head, and then turned to face his dad, James looked amused by the group, but of course concerned about NCR soldiers in the Capital Wasteland.

"Dad, did Braun confirmed it?" Maverick asked, James simply smiled, his son was well informed.

"Yes, if we find a GECK we can jury-rigged it to Project Purity, this will allow to bypass the problem we encountered on large-scale activation…it will work, it has to" James said with conviction.

"Then let's go, we know there is a GECK in Vault 87" Maverick began, "But we need something more…damaging" he added.

"Son, more damaging? I know the vaults have a history of housing nasty surprises…" James began.

"According to the brotherhood of steel" Maverick began, seeing how his father drew a surprised look at that, "Vault 87 is a super mutant breeding ground, basically a stronghold, I have seen them dad, big, ugly, dumb, but strong, not strong as me" Maverick said.

"Bragging much"

"Says the girl who fixed Liberty Prime and fried Braun's little world" Maverick said with a smirk, Sally just shook her head with a slight smile.

"So, another obstacle" James said, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, "It seems this one needs brute strength rather than brains I see" James added.

"And a big gun dad, don't forget that, they might be having a behemoth or two guarding the entrance, I wish we had the boomstick now" Maverick said.

"We'll have to settle with OWB firepower mavi" Sally said, just to receive an incredulous look of Maverick.

"Sally, when I say behemoth, I meant the word, those things are as big as prime, pure muscle and bone as thick as they are as big, we need something with a little more 'omp' than Old World Blues to pierce their thick skin, trust me, I punched a hole on a corpse of one, it is thick all right"

James seemed to take the news in stride, "I might have a solution for this" James began, "Before I decided to go to Vault112, I might have taken some detours to a former military armory, it was filled with raiders of course, but at night you can hardly see, and they were drunk, I took all I could, which included a minigun and three backpacks full of ammo and a fat-man with two mini nukes, I stashed them in scrap yard, north of Megaton, we can make it there, get the guns and then storm 87" James said.

"Nice, heavy duty ordinance, just what the doctor recommended" Manuel said with a mocking tone.

"My dad IS a doctor" Maverick said, motioning James to let him look his pip-boy so he could see the map and the location of this scrap yard, and save it on his own pip-boy.

"He is?"

* * *

><p>The advance had been swift, without resistance at all, it was simply roll and occupy, and it bothered her to no end.<p>

Megaton by default had become an enclave stronghold when the vault dwellers began to pour out, this also triggered and exodus of some of Megaton's residents, some of them because they couldn't tolerate the Enclave, others like Moira Brown, eccentric, even to wasteland standards had to leave as well, not to mention the families that left with their children, suffice to say this triggered the need of the vault dwellers to have children, even if they weren't theirs.

In time Megaton had become a haven for Enclave families who wanted to feel the burn of a sun on their skin, to feel the sand on their fingers, to be dirty and to show that the enclave was willing to mingle with others.

Right now, however, it looked anything but a city.

Megaton, for the lack of better words was deserted, not a soul was on sight, and the bomb that had given the name to the town was gone from the center, that alone spooked her, a dormant atomic bomb, in the hands of the Enclave was bad news.

A deserted town lacking a nuclear device and an equally empty vault nearby was a mile wrong.

"Anyone, tell me there is a house rigged with explosives waiting for someone to touch anything to blow us to hell" Sarah snapped, looking at the many houses suspended above her, several charges on the bases could bring the whole complex on the heads of whoever was on the catwalks, or in the center of the town, and avalanche of rust and god knows what else.

"Sorry to disappoint you Sentinel, but it's clean" a knight called from above her position, "On another note, they left a lot of brandy and vodka" Sarah shook her head at that.

"Keep it, we might need it to celebrate" she called, truth to her word, things were looking up for them, less than a day and the DC ruins were theirs, along with a lot of shinning loot, weapons, armors, ammo, food, things everyone in the Citadel and the reservoir needed.

Both havens of the Enclave outside were devoid of all form of life, they simply picked up, packed up and left, everyone, no exceptions.

"(Sigh) send a team to Vault 101, tell them to pick that place apart, take their water chips, computers, blankets, clothes, anything useful, then rig the cave with explosives, I want that place closed for everyone, even the vault dwellers" Sarah said, marching towards the entrance of Megaton, taking a small detour to enter the once home of the sheriff of the town.

The home was as the rest, empty of almost everything essential or too big to carry for one person, yet she marvel with the place, made out of junk and plane and car spare parts, the people of Megaton had made their home, it was a far cry of what humanity was used to 200 years ago, but humans adapt, that's how they had survived so far, adapt.

She was sure Megaton would be picked up by the residents once the purifier starts working and word gets out there is a river out of pure water, settlements such as Megaton and Canterbury Commons will be abandoned just to have water, pure water at your side, Sarah knew that she was standing on a dead town.

Looking around she spotted, perhaps the only thing the former inhabitant left behind, a Vault Bobblehead.

She rose an eyebrow, she had heard that Vault-Tec had made several promotional objects out of their pet, the vault boy, a blond, always smiling individual that was prominent on nearly everything Vault-Tec had their hands on, vaults included, if she had heard well from Sally, two objects stood out the most not only for their current rarity, but for their rarity even back in the day, the Vault Bobbleheads, and the Vault Snowglobes.

Picking the bobblehead, she simply stared at the doll, and the head bobble from one side to the other with no concern in the world, the ever present smile on the plastic lips of the doll, then with a sigh she tucked it on one of her empty ammo pouches, Maverick was collecting the little buggers, as the two bobbleheads he had currently could attest to.

"Tell Elder Lyons the Pride and Prime are moving for operation: clean up, if we can't eliminate the Enclave here, then we settle for the second best" Sarah said to a knight at her side.

"It will be done" the knight said, saluting her, "Bring us a 108 jumpsuit" he added with a slight amused tone, one Sarah found oddly…perfect for this moment.

"Will do"

* * *

><p>James found odd that her son was driving the enclave repurposed bus, but as things stood, his son behind the wheel was the least of his concerns, considering how things were, his son behind the wheel was a boon.<p>

He thought the wasteland was bad, the badlands and the Capital Wasteland were hostile enough, the current war just made them the Capital Wasteland even worse, a three-way war waged by the Enclave, The Brotherhood of Steel and Super Mutants, raiders, slavers and wastelanders either caught in the middle or fighting against one side, or all of them, and to be honest, James thought he had a lot to be blame for.

Yet what's done it's done, there was nothing he could do, of what he had seen, Project purity had been a Super Mutant outpost before becoming Enclave property, so in a way he had something to thank them, they surely repaired several parts damaged either by the mutants or time.

"Hey Maverick, stop" James thoughts were cut short when Manuel, the ranger shouted Maverick to stop the bus, which the former dweller did so.

"This is our stop" Jessica added, checking her SMG and then holstering it.

"Your stop?" Veronica asked, clearly surprised as the rest.

"Yeah, we still have a mission, Inculta doesn't leaves this place alive" Manuel said, "We have to regroup with First Recon team and then…well, I don't know, we'll see" Manuel added, "If things go smoothly then we lend you a hand with the Enclave" Manuel said, he and Jessica waiting to Maverick to open the door of the bus, which Maverick did with a flick of a switch.

"Are you certain, we could surely use your help to recover the GECK" James said.

"To be honest I don't want to be close to another vault, I had enough with the last one, despite the fact the most dangerous thing inside it was Maverick and he was on our side" Manuel began, "Then again we will be going against a vault full of Super Mutants, violent Super Mutants, the kind that hasn't been seen since The Master, honestly I would rather distance myself from that" Manuel added.

"On the other hand, I have to inform my superiors that we found the man who killed Legate Lanius on combat, that news alone will boost the morale of troops back in the Mojave greatly, not to mention that will put a firm stamp that the Legion are not invincible, true Caesar will put a bounty on your head for killing his Legate, but considering you are bullet proof, then it means that he will be sending his assassins to their own demise" Manuel added.

"Whatever the case, you are more than enough against the Super Mutants, it is a vault, you would feel better inside, what's worse than a Super Mutant, a human size rhino rampaging inside the cramped halls of a vault" Manuel said, much to Maverick's annoyance.

"Keep the radio, call us when you need us, later" with that the two NCR soldiers left the bus, not a second later, Maverick was slowly speeding up, leaving the NCR soldiers who took another road to their destination.

"Well, they are gone" Sally said, James noted how she pulled a strange device that seemed to be like a hi-tech clipboard in size, and how she pressed several buttons in the device.

"Sally here, sis, send me my junk, I got work to do here, I'll give you the coordinates in five minutes" Sally suddenly said, then turning to Maverick, "You heard that Maverick, we are taking a little detour, call the Citadel and tell them to drop the Boomstick in our soon to be coordinates, we are going to fix that thing" she added, James saw how his son nodded solemnly.

"Uh, what's the boomstick?" James asked to Veronica, "And while we're at it, who she was talking to?" he added.

"On that order, the boomstick is a hyper-advanced jury-rigged gauss heavy rifle mounted on a heavy flamer frame with two sniper rifle barrels surrounded by enough magnetic coils to propel bullets fast and hard enough to reduce anything hit to less than shit that only Maverick can safely use because the recoil either sends you flying or rips your arms off" Veronica began, "And Sally was talking to her sister who is now on orbit on a alien mothership with a bunch of people from before and after the Great War who got kidnapped by aliens who held us in a space-station Maverick blew up" Veronica finalized with a small, innocent smile.

James blinked, several times, then turned to his son, "Maverick! What have I told you about lying to your father!"

_**Five minutes later…**_

James stared at the seemingly empty space his son had decided to park the bus, it was plain, devoid of all kind of rock formations that might work as an ambush, the only way to hide was inside the bus, then again a bus parked in the middle of nowhere is bound to gain attention, he knew, from back in the days Project Purity was just the Jefferson Memorial and the Brotherhood was just settling in, that these parts were raider devoid due to the lack of both hiding places and actually something to attack, it is a nice place to die, no one will find your corpse, and in the off chance they do, they will only find the bones, and whatever the two-headed vultures and the sand didn't picked off.

"Okay sis, we are at the location, send the probe with my stuff at least five meters off my actual location, I haven't lived this long to die 'cause my sister has a suck-ass aim" Sally suddenly said to the pad, Maverick at her side, looking at the sky, it seemed nothing would happen, then no less than five second later after she talked last, something seemed to come out of the sky, Maverick saw this and shielded Sally as something landed near them, hard enough to raise dust and rocks, James by instinct ducked and covered his head, Veronica simply covered her face with her armored hands.

As the dust settled, James dared to look to see what had been of Sally and his son, only to see his son huddled, Sally on his arms, covered head to toe in dust and rocks, dust that fell as he stood up, Sally peeking around and then making her way towards the object that had fell of the sky.

"…What…what the hell?" was all James could say, honestly there was little he could say at the moment, something just fell off the sky, barely missing his son and his young charge.

Whatever had fell soon was revealed when the dust settled completely, what seemed a child size spike of some sort, in silver, with glowing blue lights on some parts, it was obviously not of this world, or the Pre-War era.

The next thing James knows or sees is that the spike begins to glow, letting out a stream of yellow particles, particles that begin to take the shape of a box, he easily recognized it as an Enclave utility bunk, or EUB's as the soldiers had called them, they were light enough to be carried by a man alone, regardless of the things inside, it had special compartments for fragile materials, which were as scare as pure water, and in the off-case someone was able to lift it up above their head and swing it, it was hard enough to bash someone's torso off, no doubt his son would do more than that, he might end up bashing the poor sod to the sky and actually damage the carbon titanium bunk along the way.

Without delay Sally had already pressed something on the spike, and the thing actually began to fragment itself in the same yellow particles from which it had send the box, leaving soon a small crater where it had landed, one that was being filled with sand.

"Thanks sis, meet ya soon, hugs and kisses to everyone above" Sally said to her pad, putting it on the inside of her jacket and then turning to the box.

"A care package, let's see what Miss Fortune has for us" Sally said as she kneeled in front of the box and opened, instantly bringing a smile to her face, "Oh yeah, I have been a good girl this year"

"…" James simply stared dumbly at the scene, at first he didn't believe what he had been said, chalking it as delirium on part of his son for the horrible experiments he had to endure that granted him his unnatural strength and impenetrable skin, the story about aliens and all that he didn't believe…until now.

Still something was nagging him, he knew there were procedures to make someone to the level of Maverick's physical endurance, his son had claimed he had taken down a Deathclaw and the only wound he had was the scar on his face, which made people believe that it was rather a dull knife rather a Deathclaw claws that caused it.

Taking a Deathclaw on close combat is synonymous, alongside with radiation leak and raider on chems of death, horrible, painful and something you want to forget if you bear witness of it, and even in the event you want to fight a Deathclaw on close quarters you have to take into account that a Deathclaw is not only fast on their feet, despite their colossal size, a Deathclaw is fast on their feet, on their claws and heads when in combat, when a Deathclaw swings is like something akin to see a cobra pounce, a lighting strike you only feel after the thing backs away in preparation for the next strike, with a Deathclaw this was not usually the case as you were torn in two.

With a sigh he approached his son and Sally, both were examining the contents inside the box, the little glimpse he had made him nearly stagger, Project Purity, for being a structure made out of anything technologically advanced and basically scavenged from every hole in the Capital Wasteland, was the most advanced thing around, that included Liberty Prime, any moron can make a weapon, it takes a real genius to built something to help, to create, to sustain.

He knew without shadow of a doubt that half of the things inside the box could potentially boost Project Purity functionality, that or made it blow spectacularly.

Sally gave Maverick a look, something James noted, before shifting her gaze to him, "Something on your mind doctor?" Sally asked it had been a while ever since someone had called him a doctor without contempt or distrust; it was comforting to say the least, in the wasteland, the work of a doctor is close to that of a butcher, especially those who roam the wasteland doing anything they can to help and lack the proper equipment, despite popular belief, Stimpacks are not universal cures.

"Well…let's say I believe the story of aliens and spaceships and everything else" James began, Sally simply rose an eyebrow as Maverick closed the box and took it to the bus, his eyes focused on his father and Sally.

"If what have you said about your shared experience with my son is true, then I want to know exactly to what lengths you both were experimented" Sally bit back a retort to Maverick's father, one side of her wanted to tell him to shove it, for he knew nothing about the hell she and Maverick went through, Maverick at least was dozed off while he was being experimented, she didn't had that commodity.

On the other hand, there was the side, her rational and mature side that told her that it was the way James, a scientist wanted to confirm that in fact an advanced life form had done the things she claimed, and that advanced life form was now less cosmic dust thanks to a nova like explosion in space.

"Sure, but not here, on the bus, were we can actually sit" Sally said, then turned to James, "And don't worry about Veronica, she was there too" she added as she walked to the bus, Veronica on tow, leaving James there, he sighed long and hard, things just could not remain the way they are in the wasteland, they have to complicate themselves more.

Walking to the bus, James wondered what kind of story Sally would regale him with, this was after all, a girl who claimed to be related to Robert House, who was over two hundred years old and witnessed the Great War, only ghouls can actually claim to have actually witnessed the war itself, but one thing is hearing it of someone who was an adult and stayed that way after their ghoulification, another one was hearing it from a little girl who saw, grew and survived the aftermath.

As he boarded the bus and this one took off to their original destination, James pondered one thing, what would have been if his son hadn't been kidnapped by aliens right when he was exiting the vault?

Nothing good he supposed, especially since his son supposedly first stop after the vault was Megaton, and therefore Moriarty itself.

He should be thankful for the aliens at least; they spared Maverick meeting the guy and seeing the ugly face of the wasteland within the walls of a strong town with strong people.

_**Fifteen minutes later…**_

"…and they replaced your son's spine with a nanite composed one to enhance his reaction time and match his already impressive amount of modifications to him"

James was now regretting the moment he asked Sally about what the hell the aliens did to his son, for someone boasting 200 birthdays, she was as graphic as any child could be, he knew an adult would try to lessen the truth a little, but Sally didn't, she told him in perfect detail every modification his son was subjected to, explaining at first that Maverick by all rights should be dead, so far he and Legate Lanius had survived the extreme modifications the aliens did to them, and had witnessed how two super-enhanced humans had duke it up in the hangars, she had also explained what each enhancement had done to his son, and the odds of survival.

Lady Luck was indeed looking over his son that was certain, 99% were the odds of fatality to anyone subjected to every single procedure, but his son had somehow survived, turning a single digit number into the biggest thing ever.

"So…an übermensch" James commented.

"Hardly doctor, Maverick is not perfect, as you can see there was little the aliens could do to enhance his intelligence" Sally said with a smirk.

"I heard that you old gnome!"

"HEY THAT'S LOW!"

James slightly chuckled alongside Veronica, it was like seeing two quarreling siblings rather than two strangers brought together by chance and need.

"So, a super soldier…why the aliens subjected him to all that?" James asked to Sally.

"Beats me doc, I can theorize that they wanted an infiltrator within the world, currently our world do looks like their own, surely they wanted Maverick to act as their avatar, kill everyone, so they could take over, despite how advanced they are they are not exactly durable, a foot-war against us, something they were use to would end up bad, even with our depleted numbers, so they did a second best"

"Turn one of their own"

"Correct, of course they never went beyond installing the same compliance chip they installed on Lanius brain, or Maverick would have been another puppet, like Lanius" Sally ended.

"This is disturbing, but good, I hope the data that created Maverick and Lanius is gone" Sally tapped her head at James question.

"Is all here doc, not too thrilled with the fact I have the formula of the super-soldier on my noggin, but considering that only three procedures can be done with our current technology, and they are only meant to double speed and reaction time on a subject has to be of some consolation" she said.

"I guess" he said, then added something else, "I am surprised that you are accepting your inevitable puberty and mortality rather well, all things considered" James said, Sally simply shrugged.

"Immortality is not as cracked as they make it see it, 200 years put things in perspective for me, at least I got out lucky, with a lot of strings attached, the ghouls I have heard Veronica speaking, man I can't think how they can endure their bodies rotting on them, being unable to do anything to stop it, only to pull out dead skin and hair, exposing muscle and whatnot"

"It is the tragedy of war"

"The tragedy is that we don't know who was the asshole that pushed the 'screw the world' button" Sally snapped, "But we can't cry over spilled milk, humanity still endures, unfortunately so does war"

"A sad truth" James said, then looked at Sally, then at his son, "But something came up of all this I suppose" he said; now Sally was curious of his words.

"A father will always want the best for his son or daughter, this hasn't changed in 200 years, I left my son in the vault because I felt it was the safest place for him to be, no matter how old a son gets, to me Maverick would always be my top priority, it eases me that now he is strong enough to tackle anything the wasteland might throw at him, physically of course, the wasteland tests you in every aspect, I hope he is ready to handle that too"

"He is, up there…it wasn't pretty" Sally said, feeling, just like James and Veronica how the bus stopped, the trio looked at the front, spotting the outside, a lot of cars piled up, like ruined buildings forming dirty streets, not only that, there were also buses and vans set on the yard, most of them had cars on top of them, the windows covered with metal sheets, everyone could see generators connected to the buses and vans.

"We're here" Maverick said, turning off the bus and standing up, pulling out OWB, "The place…is not empty" Maverick mussed.

"What gave it away, the generators? The covered windows? Or the fact there are several toys on the ground?" Sally asked sarcastically.

"A little bit of all that" Maverick said with a smirk, "There are also a lot of footprints in the dirt, this must have become a camp of some sort after dad put his little stash and went to112" Maverick said, "Remain here, I'll scout around"

"Uh…son?" James called, "I might not know a lot of what you have done first-hand, but pulling a gun that can in layman terms, screw you up before firing is not a good idea" James reminded.

"What do you suggest? Talk them to death?" Maverick wondered.

"Remember how we dealt with problems back in the vault?" James asked, Maverick slightly nodded at that.

"You might have the strength of a behemoth, but might is not the universal solution for everything, remember, sharp mind"

"Sharper tongue" Maverick finished, holstering OWB and opening the bus doors, "Dad…keep the channel open" was all Maverick said as he exited the door, James closing the door behind his son.

"Still remembers" James chuckled as he brought his pip-boy up and began to work on it.

Outside, Maverick slightly cringed his nose, not because of distaste, it was common among newly exited vault dwellers to see junk made homes as 'ugly' and 'unsafe' but in the wasteland that is a relative word, besides he was by far the first vault dweller to not see a town made out of junk and see it as ugly, his very former predecessor, the vault dweller of vault 13, upon laying his eyes on the very first human settlement he came across, thought it was butt ugly and unsafe.

No, the reason Maverick cringed was because the smell of rotting flesh and spilled innards, the smell still haunted him, he might had left the space-station, but what he saw there didn't left him at all.

Grimacing he let his nose guide him, his senses were beyond sharpened, sometimes his eyes would fail him, and when that happens, ears and nose will always take over.

As he walked, the odor became worse, even more so, he could see he was not alone, he could hear whispers, shuffles of feet on metal, guns cocking up, being loaded.

If it was an ambush he was ready, and so had to be the others, "Dad, there are people here, surely inside the buses and cars, they are armed, I smell blood and rotten flesh, be very careful" Maverick whispered to his pip-boy.

"_Will be ready son"_

Maverick slightly smiled, it was good to hear his dad's voice over the pip-boy, another modification his dad made to their pip-boys, since the vault was big, it was usual to Maverick to feel alone, especially when Amata was being dragged around by her father, so James worked on a way to communicate with his son without the need of using the intercoms of the vault, the result was the built-in communicator in their pip-boys, one of a kind, no one else but them had them.

He kept advancing, crossing the lanes and 'streets' until he reached the spot the smell was the strongest, still after killing and seeing dead, he was not getting used to the sight of dead people, and surely would never would, and this one for a reason.

There, on the dirt lay the corpse of what seemed a woman, covered by a dirty blanket, approaching the corpse seemed like a bad idea, the body could be booby trapped, a tactic of the most cunning and thankfully, rarest raiders around, but he could withstand explosions well enough, a landmine would only tickle him, pity thousands upon thousands of dead people by landmines before and after the Great War could say the same.

Kneeling in front of the body, he removed the blanket, immediately grimacing upon seeing the body state.

"God…dad, I found a corpse, female" Maverick said, lifting the blanket more, and then gasping, "Pregnant, at least three to four months into gestation, cause of death, gunshot…executed" Maverick said, the cold medic taking over.

"_I see, anything else"_

"The vultures were having a feast with her, I see the fetus still inside her torn middle section, they covered her body to keep the vultures off her" Maverick said, laying the blanket down again, covering the body.

"…God, who could have done this? A pregnant woman"

"_Son, this is why I left you behind, this world…is cruel, it hold no mercy for no one, not even the newborn, I really didn't want you to see this"_

"Things can change dad, we just need something to rally behind, a reason to stay sane and not become…savages"

"Got that right partner" Maverick didn't tensed, not even when the cold barrel of a gun was pressed to the back of his head, not even when another barrel, now pressed to his forehead, this one being a laser rifle, and held in the hand of a kid.

"…tell the kid to move that toy of my face before he hurts himself" Maverick said sternly, his eyes locked on the eyes of the afro-American kid who simply scowled at him.

"Don't think I won't fire, I will scum" the kid said, tensing his body to fire the gun.

"You don't have what it takes…you are not a killer" Maverick simply said as he rose to his whole height, the kid simply looked up, his rifle still trained to him, but he didn't find the weapon nor the kid dangerous, neither the man behind him with the weapon trained to his back.

"You got some nerve coming here, after all vault dwellers have done to us" the man behind him said, pushing the barrel of the gun even more.

"I'm not with them" Maverick said, not raising his arms, despite the situation demanding it.

"I'm not buying that hoard of bull again" that did picked Maverick's interest.

"Again?"

"…you don't know…do you?"

"Know what? All I see now is a dead woman with a gunshot, and a man with a gun, for all I know you are lying and killed that woman, who was pregnant, that makes me angry" Maverick said, turning around, spotting finally the man, also afro-american, holding a Chinese assault rifle, dressed as some sort of bounty hunter of the wild west.

"You don't like me when I'm angry, things tend to die when I'm angry" Maverick hissed, "And no, is not false bravado, I can have you on your back be-" the man reacted instantly by firing his gun at Maverick point-blank, which made the kid to fire Maverick on the back.

This had not the desired effect the man mussed as Maverick's arm actually shot to the barrel of the gun, crushed it like if it was paper then pushed it backwards, alongside with the shocked man like sheriff who could do little but to stare in shock as the dweller he shot remained on his feet after getting shot on the head.

The kid by his part remained silent, only to scream when Maverick turned and seized his laser rifle, and broke it in two like dried wood.

"Enough!" Maverick of course was not going to attack a kid and a wastelander just because they fired at him, yet he had to make sure they would not attack him anymore, so he yelled.

This had the somewhat desired effect, the tall man stopped, but kept a warring glance at Maverick, while the kid wanted to disembowel him for whatever reason he wanted.

"I'm not here to fight but if you fire at me again I swear I'll feed you a knuckle sandwich with blood sauce" Maverick threatened to the man.

"…It won't be necessary kid, as long you don't hurt my people" the man said, tossing the now useless rifle away, and pulling a single handgun, Maverick frowned at that.

"A 5.56mm round did nothing to me, a laser did nothing to me, that pea launcher will do nothing to me…neither the dozens of people around us pointing guns at me will" Maverick stated firmly, crossing his arms and looking at one of the cars, spotting the barrel of a rifle out of the gaps of one of the doors.

"…Okay" the man said, "Lower your guns people, seems harmless enough" the man said.

"Harmless?" Maverick caught sight of a man clad with the same clothes he wore after his combat armor was damaged back in the space-station, he also wore a bandana over his head alongside a patch over his right eye, and a long goatee, unkempt.

"The kid just took two rounds point-blank, one to the head, and he crushed the barrel of your rifle, and pushed you back, all while breaking the toy of your son, so no offense Sheriff Simms, but to me he is as harmless as a Yao Guai, which means no, he isn't" the man with the patch said as he approached with a shotgun pointed at Maverick.

"Billy, if he wanted us dead he would surely do it, and would have showed no mercy…besides" Sheriff Simms said, motioning to the corpse behind Maverick, "The kid recoiled upon seeing good old Vera, I have seen my share of shit, and it leaves you without sense of pity for no one, and vault dwellers fill pity for no one, this one did" the sheriff said, "Besides he looked surprised upon hearing of the other one" he added.

"You mentioned another dweller…did he…" Maverick motioned to the body behind him.

"Damn right he did, orders he said, bullshit I say" the sheriff snapped, "Apparently Vera there was an Enclave scientist looking to get out of that bullshit, came here about a month ago with the story she was a pregnant widow of Andale, a town attacked by the Enclave" Maverick shook his head.

"Andale's only population is…were cannibals" the sheriff nodded.

"We knew that town was small, and filled with those guys, so we didn't believe her, but for the sake of her baby we made her believe we believe her" the sheriff said, "It was good, for some time, she was a medic, good, better than the last one" the sheriff added with a chuckle, "Hell I am sure she was on a relationship with Stockholm" the sheriff said.

"Then two days ago that dweller came, claiming he had escaped his fellow dwellers and was seeking refuge, we didn't believe that one either, it didn't lasted much, Vera lay eyes on that guy and she went hysterical, the guy didn't fare better, one minute he is in front of me, the next the asshole has his hands on her belly and then…shit"

"…there were not vultures…right?"

"Right, the moment he does that to her, everyone is opening fire at him, but he moved fast, it didn't helped that he was close to a car and ducked there, then Talon Mercs came, we had to duck and defend ourselves of those bastards, I can only guess Vera was still alive after that, but the guy got to her and executed her, we found her about an hour after the fight, just like you're seeing her now, minus blanket, we gunned a couple of mercs down, but this is hardly a place to defend yourself" the sheriff said.

"Now kid, what your name and story"

"I got your story, but not your name"

"Cheeky guy"

"Pleasantries didn't die in the apocalypse"

The sheriff smirked, "Lucas Simms, sheriff of this piece of land and once sheriff of Megaton, before we decided to leave that powder keg" Lucas said.

"Maverick Hartigan, outcast vault dweller of vault 101…I need a shorter title" Maverick mussed to himself.

"What you need is to die asshole"

"Harden!" Lucas snapped, "You'll have to apologize Harden…he liked Vera" was all Lucas summarized, Maverick saw that Lucas was holding something out about Vera, but said nothing else.

"Well sheriff, I won't take much of your time, my dad came here, surely before you took the place, he left a stash of weapons, mainly big guns, we need them" Maverick said.

"Oh you mean the guns Moira found, sorry to say this but she kinda broke them down for parts for a windmill generator, it does not generate a lot of electricity, but it keeps the water distiller up and running, well as long there is wind"

Maverick internally cursed, they could have used those weapons, but as they say, finder keepers, "Well, hell and brimstone" Maverick said as he prepared himself to leave, but stopped, gave the body another look, a long, hard look.

"The body presents bite marks; both the woman and the fetus were brutalized post-morten…"

"You point being?" Lucas asked, motioning the group in hiding to disperse.

"…Please describe me the dweller that did this" Maverick's words obviously surprised Lucas and Billy, but not Harden who simply scoffed.

"Sure…tall as you, pale as hell, with uh…freckles on his cheeks, lots of them, he has short red hair and yellow like eyes, more like sand like yellow" Lucas and Billy noted the pale look of Maverick, how pale he had become.

"No…can't be" Maverick said, "He is dead, it was all she babbled about" Maverick said.

"What are you yapping about" Billy said, lowering his shotgun, but kept it aimed at Maverick.

"I know the dweller, but the thing is that the guy is dead, hell his dead was being pinned to me" Maverick pointed out, "It makes no sense…where did he go?" Maverick asked.

"Took up to the southeast, to one of the vaults there" Lucas said, seeing how Maverick made his way towards the bus, mindful of the eyes following him.

"Tell your sniper to lower his rifle or I'll reunite him with Vera" was all Maverick shouted as he finally walked away, the sniper simply glaring at Maverick over his scope.

As Maverick made it to the bus, he saw his dad outside, Sally right at his side.

"We got problems" was all Maverick said, leaning to the bus, "Dad, it seems Marcus is alive"

"Excuse me, you said Marcus is dead" James said with shock.

"So did I, and apparently so Amata, you can't fake that kind of anger, hell it seems every single person in the vault believes the same" Maverick spoke, his eyes focused somewhere.

"I'm going there dad, I have the location, I can make a run and see what's going on" Maverick said, lifting his hands to stop his dad from speaking, "Let's face it dad, from us four, I am far more prepared for the wasteland, remain in the bus, these guys will try to shoot you if you give them a reason" Maverick added.

"I know…but I can't just let you go like that" James said.

"You don't have a say in this, just like I didn't had a say in your escape" Maverick said, walking away.

"Stay inside, stay safe" with that Maverick began to run away, James was clearly surprised by the speed his son began to run, even more so as he didn't seem to slow down at all.

James simply sighed, he didn't want to admit it, but his son was right, besides the fact they were stalling, but a part of him understood what Maverick wanted, his son was blamed for the murder of a man he didn't even cross, a man that apparently was alive, all that had happened so far had been, to James it was Maverick's way to find out the truth about what had happened the day he left 101, if this Marcus held the truth of what had happened to Amata, why she was so changed, Maverick would find out.

Question was what to do after the answer?

Entering the bus, he saw Sally simply leaning on one side of the bus, he knew she could take care of herself, she had experience in survival, 200 years in fact, he was an amateur compared to her, so he let her to her devices, for the moment, after all this place was hostile to vault dwellers and anyone with them.

Sally by her part remained leaning on the bus, arms crossed, eyes focused on the dark skinned kid holding a BB gun on his hands, glaring at James, and to an extent, Maverick, she knew a BB gun wouldn't hurt, more like annoy, the small pellets of the BB were like mosquito bites, that changed of course when she saw that the BB gun was modified to an extent, surely to make it more deadly to wasteland standards.

Harden glared at Sally, Sally glared at Harden, with a scoff the girl made her way towards Harden, soon standing in front of him.

"Listen to me you little bugger, and listen to me well" Sally said, knowing that there were eyes all around, and ears all over, hearing and listening to her, she didn't mind.

"You dare to aim that gun at that man, I kill you" she said, "You see this" Sally said, drawing a line on the dirt with her feet, "This is the line between life and death, right now you're alive, cross it" Sally said as she pulled Novasurge.

"And I'll reduce you to a pile of green goo and personally deliver it to your dad" Sally stated, and much to Harden's shock, and everyone watching and hearing, Sally slammed the Novasurge grip to his face, making him stumble.

"You're afraid to kill…I don't"

* * *

><p>Reaching vault 108 was a piece of cake, considering it was some kilometers away of scrapyard, it was easy to reach it as well, the bus had helped them to reach scrapyard, but the road to 108 was too much for the bus, the remains of the road would not help as much as before, it was obvious much of the bombs launched 200 years ago were focused to the city itself, which held many important landmarks, both civilians and military, so the east part of the Capital Wasteland, both city and former suburbs were the worse to wear, with more cliffs, holes and debris that in the other sectors of the wasteland itself.<p>

It also helped that there were two enclave guards on plain sight, basically highlighting the entrance to 108.

"Active stealth mode"

Now a shade, Maverick easily slipped pass them, they didn't even noticed him, the cameras on the entrance of the open vault didn't noticed him, no one did, he walked with impunity inside the vault, seeing scientists mingling all over the area, some working on computers, others on labs, test tubes of the size of a grown-up person, some of those tubes holding fetuses attached to tubes, other holding full grown-up men, all with a stupid smile on their faces.

Several labs held mass produced pip-boys, Maverick noted that most of these Pip-boys were the 2000 series, not the 3000, meaning the integrated VATS on the wrist mounted computers was not available, either they were trying to reverse-engineer the technology on the pip-boys or were repairing those and were giving them to high-rank officers and soldiers on the field.

That alone scared him.

But he wasn't here for that, he knew from Sarah that 108 was a cloning facility for the Gary clones, fodder he sees them, an army that could be manufactured and grown in the matter of days, trained in hours, outfitted in minutes, with the only objective to wear down your opponent, to bleed your enemy dry, why? Because the Enclave was weakened by several years of fight, migration and planning.

Focusing on his task, Maverick made it to the only place he knew he could find Marcus, where Marcus would go if he, as a vault dweller out of your vault and working with a genocidal organization using another vault as base, would go to report?

Go to the overseer office, Marcus was such an ass-kisser.

Besides the office was a big computer, it was linked to the vault completely, if there was a place to command and oversee the vault, to lock it down with just one push of a button, it was the overseer office.

So he went there, it was easy, the halls were unprotected, there were no soldiers around, it was scary in a sense, it reminded him of 112 and 101 at night, when not even the guards patrolled the halls.

The door to the overseer office was open, there he found him, Marcus, just as he remembered him, but clad in an Enclave officer uniform, leaning in front of the desk, behind him stood another enclave officer, this one was aged, Maverick toned down the conversation, approaching the aged officer, and when he was behind him, brought his left hand into a hook to the side of the man's head, the sound of bones breaking was satisfying alongside the sound of meat meeting metal, and more bones crushing.

Maverick smirked when he saw Marcus eyes widened upon this, obviously Marcus didn't expect something like this to happen, but he couldn't remain just looking at Marcus shocked face, he had questions, and Marcus had answers.

Marcus chocked when something clamped on his neck, lifted him up and slammed him to a wall, the same wall where the officer he was reporting now lay dead, with part of his brains oozing out of his cracked head.

Then he saw it, a hand materializing right around his neck, clamped hard, attached to it was a pip-boy.

"Hello Marcus" the man in question just gulped when he saw Maverick materialize like the reaper itself, ready to claim a soul, clad to the part of course.

"You and I have a lot to talk about"

Marcus shuddered, not only because the tone Maverick used.

Maverick smiled, his smile turning a little darker, it helped a lot that the lights flickered on and off suddenly.

Both men were unaware that the ceiling was basically caving in, that the scientists were running scared and how a metallic arm basically punched a hole in.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yes, i'm evil, such a plot twister, the man is alive and his words will shock Maverick to the core, nto to mention i left it as a cliffhanger, and yes, i took lessons from those who did the same in their stories, they are as evil as me.<strong>_

_**you will have not to wait much for what will happen next, i'm already working on the chapter, so don't worry, and just wait for MAVERICK's WAR.**_

_**in case you don't get it, that's the name of the next chapter, I told you i was already working on it.**_

_**have any ideas to make the story better, have anything to say, just want to feed my ego, then send reviews, I will read them all, and made me happy along the way.**_

_**Until a next time, this is Hypn0s, bidding you a good day.**_


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